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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


MODCQH 

BGDKPLATE5 

&  TMEIQ  DESIOnCQS 


A   LIMITED   EDITION 
OF   THIS   NUMBER 
WITH  THE  TEXT  AND 
SUPPLEMENTS 
PRINTED  ON  FINE 
PAPER,  ON   ONE  SIDE 
ONLY,  IS   NOW  READY 
PRICE  FIVE;  SHILLINGS 
NET 


winxco  nuMBCD  or 

in  C  STUDIO 


PQICC J  S/  fiETT 


1898-9 


1 


LOr^DOrt-StlCriOlCTTA-STCOVENTGAQDCn 


A.SANDERSON 


MANUFACrUREfti  OP  HIGHEST  CLA53 
WALL.  PAPER-5 


Designs  should  be  subtaitted 
at  ch 15 wick 


^RKS  (hISWICK 


NEARISTTOr.STATION.TUKKPAM  GREEN 


THE  HOB  BASKET  GRATE, 

CONSTRUCTED  ON 

SCIENTIFIC     PRINCIPLES, 
QUAINT  AND  ARTISTIC  IN  APPEARANCE. 

ILLUSTRATED  CATALOGUE  ON   APPLICATION. 


R.  H.  &  J.  PEARSON,  Ltd. 

141,    143   HioH   Street,  Notting  Hii.l  Gate, 
LONDON,  W. 


GEORGE  ALLEN'S  ANNOUNGEMENTS. 

RUSKIN,  ROSSETTI,  and  PRE-RAPHAELIT  ISM. 

Letters  and  Documents  of  Ruskin,  Rossetti,  Millais,  Ford  Madox  Brown,  Holman  Hunt,  and  many  others  concerned 
in  the  Pre-Raphaelite  Movement  in  England:  1854-1862.  Edited  by  W.  M.  Rossetti.  Illustrated  with  numerous 
Plates  in  Photogravure,  from  Pictures  chiefly  by  D.  G.  Rossetti.     Crown  Svo,  352  pp.  cloth  extra,  lOS.  6d.  net. 

Also  an  Edition  of  200  Large  Paper  Copies,  with  India  Proofs  of  the  Plates,  and  additional  Illustrations  I 
reproduced  in  a  large  size  for  this  Edition  only.    30s,  net.  ' 

New  Small  Complete  Editions  of  John  Raskin's  Works. 


THE  STONES  OF  VENICE. 

In  Three  Volumes,  cloth,  gilt  top,  crown  8vo,  30s.  net,  with  all  the  Plates.  This  Edition,  with  the  119  Woodcuts, 
the  6  Plates  in  Colour,  the  other  47  Full-page  Illustrations,  reproduced  in  Photogravure  and  Half-tone,  and  the  Text 
as  originally  Issued,  is  now  completed  as  follows  : 

Volume      I.— THE  FOUNDATIONS.    With  21  Full-page  Plates  and  72  Woodcuts.     Cloth,  gilt  top,  10s.  net.  "»    * 
Volume    II.— SEA  STORIES.     With  20  Full-page  Plates  and  38  Woodcuts.    Cloth,  gilt  top,  lOs.  net. 
Volume  IIL— THE  FALL.     With  12  Full-page  Plates  and  9  Woodcuts,  and  Index.     Cloth,  gilt  top,  lOs.  net. 

MODERN  PAINTERS. 

In  Five  Volumes  and  Index,  crown  Svo,  cloth,  gilt  top,  £2  2s.  net. 

With  the  225  Woodcuts,  the  i  Lithograph,  and  the  89  Full-page  Illustrations  reproduced  in  Photogravure  and  Half-tone. 

The  Text  is  complete  and  includes  the  EPILOGUE  wTitten  by  Mr.  RUSKIN  in  1888. 

Volumes  L  and  II.  (not  sold  separately),  lis.  net;  Volume  III.,  8s.  net;  Volume  IV.,  9s.  net;  Volume  V., 
9s.  net ;  Index,  5s.  net. 

LECTURES  ON  LANDSCAPE. 

Given  at  Oxford  in  January  and  February   1871.     With  20  Plates  in  Photogravure  and  2  in  Colour,  including  8 
hitherto  unpublished  Turners :  Reproductions  of  the  Pictures  chosen  from  the  Author's  Private  Collection,  the 
University  Galleries,  &c.,  by  which  these  Lectures  were  originally  Illustrated. 
Uniform  with  "Studies  in  Both  Arts,"  16  by  11  inches.     Cloth,  £2  2s.  net. 

LONDON:   RUSKIN  HOUSE,  156  CHARING  CROSS  ROAD,  W.C 


J 


Mr.  Heinemann's  New  Art  Publications.      ^'^^- 


GAINSBOROUGH     AND     HIS     PLACE     IN 

ENGLISH  ART.  By  Waltkr  Armstkong,  Director  of 
the  National  Gallery,  Ireland.  With  62  Photogravures  and 
10  Lithographs  in  Colours.  In  One  Volume,  imperial  410, 
price  £^  55.  net.  Also  50  Copies  with  Duplicates  of  the 
Photogravures  on  India  Paper  in  Portfolio,  ^^lo  los.  net, 
which  are  all  subscribed  for. 

LEONARDO  DA  VINCI,  the  Artist,  the   Philo- 

sopher,  the  Scholar.  Authorised  Translation  from  the 
French  of  EfCi^NE  Mi'NTZ,  Member  of  the  Institute  of 
France,  &c.  In  Two  Volumes,  uniform  in  size  with  Michel's 
"Rembrandt."  With  20  Photogravures,  24  Coloured 
Plates,  3  Plates  in  Two  Blacks,  and  about  200  Text  Illus- 
trations.    Price  £'z  2s.  net. 

IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  LAND.     An  Account  of 

a  Journey  into  Tibet  ;  Capture  by  the  Tibetan  Authorities  ; 

Imprisonment,  Torture,  and  ultimate  Release.   By  .\.  Henry 

Savage  L.\»DOR.    Profusely  Illustrated.    InTwo  Volumes, 

32s.  net. 

Times. — "  He  tells  a  plain  and  manly  tale  without  affectation 

or  bravado.  ...  A   book,   certainly,  that    will   be   read   with 

interest  and  excitement." 

Athen(£itm. — "  The  account  he  has  written  of  his  travels  and 
adventures  is  vivid  and  often  fascinating," 

FASHION    IN  PARIS.     The  various  Phases   of 

Feminine  Taste  from  1597  to  1897.     By  OcT.WE  UzANNE. 
Translated   by    Lady    Mary    Loyd.     With    100    Hand- 
coloured  Plates  and  250  Text  Illustrations  by  Francois 
Courboin.     I  vol.,  imp.  8vo,  36s. 
Punch. — "  As  a  book  of  reference  for  the  Illustrator,  for  the 

author  and  dramatist,  this  book  is  a  most  valuable  authority  on 

feminine  costumes." 


Nicholson. 

in    Colours,   on 


LONDON    TYPES.     By    William 

Quatorzains  by  W.  E.  Henley. 
The   Popular   Edition.      Lithographed 

Stout  Cartridge  Paper.     Price  5s. 
The   Lihr.\ry   Edition   (Limited  to  275  Copies  for   sale 
in  Great  Britain).     Lithographed  in  Colours,  on  Japanese 
Vellum.     Price  12s.  6d.  net. 
Also   40  Sets   (for   Great   Britain    and    the   United   States) 
in  Portfolio.    Printed  from  the  Original  Woodblocks  direct. 
Hand-coloured,  and  signed  by  the  Artist.     Price  _^2i  net. 
In  the  remarkable  series  of  designs  presented  in  this  volume, 
Mr.  W.  Nicholson  has  preserved  for  coming  generations  some 
of  the  more  striking  London  types  as  they  appeared  about  the 
Jubilee  days  of  Queen  Victoria. 

AN  ALMANACK  OF  TWELVE   SPORTS  FOR 

1899.  By  WiLLiA.M  Nicholson.  Twelve  Coloured  Plates, 
each  Illustrating  a  Sport  for  the  Month.  With  accom- 
panying Rhymes  by  RcDYARD  Kipling.  In  Three 
Editions.     The  Libr.^ry  Edition  all  sold. 

The  Popular  Edition.  Lithographed  in  Colours  on  stout 
Cartridge  Paper.     Price  2s.  6d. 

Also  a  limited  number  of  sets,  printed  from  the  Original 
Woodblocks  direct.  Hand-coloured,  and  signed  by  the 
Artist.     In  Vellum  Portfoho.     Price  j^i2  12s.  net. 

AN  ALPHABET.    By  William  Nicholson.   410. 

The  Popular  Eijitiox,  5s. 

The  Lihr.\ry  Edition  (Limited).  Lithographed  in  Colours 
on  Dutch  Hand-made  Paper,  mounted  on  brown  paper 
and  bound  in  cloth,  gilt  edges,  price  12s.  6d.  net. 

Also  a  limited  number  of  sets,  printed  from  the  Original 
Woodblocks  direct.  Hand-coloured  and  signed  by  the 
Artist.     In  Vellum  Portfolio,  price  j^2i  net. 


Illustrated  Prospectuses  will  be  forwarded  on  Application. 

London:    WILLIAM  HEINEMANN,  21   Bedford  Street,  .Strand,  W.C. 

THE  ROYAL  COPENHAGEN  PORCELAIN 

Danish  Ceramic  Art 

Vases  -V  Figures  -v  Plaques 

BY  EMINENT  ARTISTS 

SUITABLE    rroR    PRESENTATION    PURPOSES 


SS  Hppolntmcnt 

to  t>.m.  tbc 
■Rlna  of  ffienmarl! 


*?  Sppolntment 

to  V.'R.t).  tbe 

piincee9o(1iIIIaIct 


Danish  House.  294  Regent  Street  London,  W. 


AD.    I 


CONTENTS  OF  WINTER  NUMBER  1898-9 

Edited  by  Charles  Holme. 

BRITISH  BOOK-PLATES.  By  Qleeson  White  i;,gi    3       GERMAN  BOOK-PLATES.  By  H.  W.  Singer     Page  63 

FRENCH  „  By  Octave  Uzanne      .     47       AUSTRIAN         „  By  W.  Scholermann  .  68 

AMERICAN        „  By  Jean  Carre  .     5s       BELGIAN  „  By  Fernand  Khnopff.  73 

SUPPLEMENTS  by  H.  Nelson.  W.  P.  Nicholson,  Charles  Robinson,  R.  Anning  Bell,  Otto  Greiner, 
H.  Uranville  Fell,  H.  Ospovat,  and  Paul  Voigt. 


INDEX  OF  ILLUSTRATORS. 


Andr^,  Henry  . 
Batten,  J.  D.    . 
Beardsley,  Aubrey 
Bell,  R.  Anning 
Bllllnjchurst,  P.  J. 
Bouvenne,  A^laiis 
Bracquemond  . 
Bra^den,  C.  F. 
Brickdale,  E.  F. 
Cadcnhead,  James 
Cameron,  D.  Y. 
Crai^,  Gordon 
Doepler 
Donnay 

Emanuel,  VV.  L. 
Essie,  Walter  . 
Fell,  H.  Granville 
Gavarni 
Goldie,  Cyril    . 
Goodhue.  H.  E. 
GradI 

Greiner,  Otto  . 
Guthrie,  J.  J.  . 
Hadaway,  W.  S. 
Halls,  Robert  . 
Hallward,  Ella  E.  G 


Page  55 

•  3° 

•  49 
30.  31 

iS,  19 

51.  55 
49.  5°.  56 

57 

43 
20 

26,  27 

24 

61 

76,78 

29 

5 
44 
53 

3 

56,  59.  60 
61 
64 
17 
58.59 
29 


Hapgood,  T.  B. 
Hlldebrandt 
Housman,  Laurance 
Hug;hes,  E.  R. 
Khnopff    . 
Khrahl,  E. 
Klinger,  Max  . 
Lebeque,  Leon 
Legros,  Alphonse  . 
Macdonald,  Frances 
Macdonald,  Margaret 
McNair,  Herbert 
Margetson,  W.  H.  . 
Marolle,  Lcon  . 
Muyden,  Evert  Van 
Nelson,  H. 
New,  E.  H.       . 
Niebuhr,  F.      . 
Orlik,  Emil 
Ospovat,  H. 
Pankok 
Pellens,  E. 
Prendiville,  Mary  . 
Rassenfosse,  A. 
Reroff 
Rhead,  Q.  VV.  . 


•  P<^'  57 
.  61 
.  T9 

4 
.    .  76 

•  73 
.  66 

•  54 

•  54 
.  48 

•  47 

•  47 

4 

53 

50.  51 

.  36 

.   16 

•  72 
74.  75 

■  38.  39.  40 
.    .  67 

•  77 
56,  59 
76.  77 


Rhead,  Louis  J. 
Ricketts,  E.  Bengough 
Robinson,  T.  H. 
Rohida,  A. 
Rops,  Fellclen 
Sattler 

Shaw,  Byam    . 
Simpson,  J.  W. 
Stephens,  W.  Reynolds 
Svensson,  Julius 
Thoma,  Hans  . 
Thompson,  M.  E.   . 
Verhaegen,  A. 
Voigt,  Paul 
Voysey,  C.  F.  A. 
Waud,  R. 
Waugh,  J.  J.   . 
Wenig,  Bernhard  . 
West,  J.  Walter     . 
Weyer,  W.  R. 
Williams,  J.     . 
Wilson,  D.  E. . 
Wilson,  H. 
Wolbrand,  Carl 
Womrath,  A.  K.      . 
Woodroffe,  Paul 


Page  43 

32.  33.  36 
.   6 

•  52 

•  52 
O4.  65,  68 

•  44 

12,  13 

•  37 
.  68 

62,  63 

•  14 

■  78 

•  71 

•  25 
.  18 

•  23 

■  72 

■  15 

•  9 
.  10 

II 

•  38 

63,  72 
.  28 

•  5 


A  SELECTION  FROM 

Frederick  Warne  &  Co.'s  New  Publications, 


T\\ii  CHAKMIXC.  C.ll  T-l;(>()KS. 

STORIES    FROM    SHAKSPEARE.     Jiy   M.   S. 

'l'owNEsENi>.     With  Upwards  of  120  Original   Illustrations  by  the 

Author.     Small  medium  8vo,  cloth  gilt,  gilt  top,  6s. 

The  plan  of  the  work  is  something  after  the  nature  of  Lamb's  Talcs 

from     Shakespeare,     but     is    of 

a    much  more    extended    scope 

than  thai  cek-bratccl  hook. 

THE  NURSERY 

RHYME  BOOK. 

With  upwards  of  100  Drawings 
by  L.  Leslie  Hrooke,  and  an 
iroduction  and  Notes  by 
A.NDREw  Lang.  Medium  8vo, 
cloth  gilt,  gilt  edges,  6s. 


THE  FAIRY  TALE  BOOK 


FOR  1898  9  SEASON, 


Mrs.  F.  H.  Burnett's  Children's  Book  for  Christmas. 
THE  CAPTAINS  YOUNGEST  ;  PICCINO  ;  and 

other  Stones.     Illustrated  by   Reginald  B.   Birch.     In  square 
8vo,  cloth  gill.     Price  3s.  6d. 
"Made   up  of  four  tales.  .  .  .  The  first  is  an  exceedingly  touching 
story  .  .  .  while    How  Fauntleroy  occurred,  and  a  ver>'  real  little  boy 
became  an  ideal  one    is  a  very  pretty  set  of  chapters  on   the  oricinal  of 
the  now  famous    Little  Lord  Fauntleroy.'  "—Athiiurum. 
*'  The  work  is  charming  throughouL"— .y«/f»f««. 


In  huge  erov.it  Svo,  eloth  gilt,  bevelled  bcutids,  or  in 
art  linen,  gilt  top,  3s.  6d. 

THE  OWL  KING 

AND  OTHER  FAIRY  TALES. 
By  H.  E.   in  man. 
With  30  Illustrations  by  E.  A.  Mason. 

This  volume  of  Fairy  Tales  will  delight  the  youtliful 
reader.  The  stories  are  excellent,  containing  a  mixture  of 
imagination  and  common  sense  which  is  remarkable,  with  a 
good  and  not  too  prominent  underlying  moral. 

THE  BOYS  OF  FAIRMEAD,     By  M.  C.  Row- 

SELL.     With  numerous  Illustiations  by  Chris  Ham.mond.     Large 

crown  F.vo,  cloth  piU,  bc\ellcii  boards,  3s.  6d. 

MY  LADIES  THREE.    By  Annie  E.  Armstrong. 

With  .six  Unginal  Illustrations  by  G.  D.  Hammond,  R.L    Large 
crown  Svo,  cloth  gilt,  bevelled  boards,  3s.  6d. 
A  pretty  and  romantic  story  efthe  days  of  George   L,  in  which,  like 
the  interest  of  the  tale,  the  manner  and  style  of  language  of  the  period 
is  well  kept  up. 

Ncii'  Volume  by  the  Author  oj  "Quiet  Stories  from  an  Old 
IVoman's  Garden/'     Crown  Svo,  cloth  gilt,  gilt  top,  p.  6d. 

IN  THE  SHADOW  OF  THE  HILLS.    By  Alison 

Mc  L^,.^^.       With     Pliotogravurc     Frontispiece     by     C.     Toi-llAM 
Davidson. 

**  *  In  the  Shadow  of  the  Hills '  is  simply  fascinating.  Its  pictures  of 
rural  life,  of  sylvan  sccncrj',  and  of  individual  character,  arc  not  often 
equalled  for  truth  and  beauty.  .  ,  ,  We  heartily  recommend  this 
volume." — Record. 


A  COMPLETE  CATALOGUE  OF  PEESEiXTATION  BOOKS  MAY  BE  OBTAINED  ON  APPLICATION  TO 

FREDERICK  WARNE  &  CO.,  Chandos  House,  Bedford  Street,  Strand. 


AD.    II 


Blackie's  New  Illustrated  Story  Books. 

BY   G.  A.   HENTY. 

Under  Wellington's  Command  :  A  Tale  of  the  Peninsular  War.     With  twelve  page  Illustrations 

by  Wai.  Paget.     Crown  .Svo,  cloth  elegant,  olivine  edges,  6s. 

Both  Sides  the  Border :  A  Tale  of  Hotspur  and  Glendower.     With  twelve  page  Illustrations  by 

K.M.pu  Peacock.     Crown  Svo,  cloth  elegant,  olivine  edges,  6i. 

At  Aboukir  and  Acre  :  A  Story  of  Napoleon's  Invasion  of  Egypt.     With  eight  page  Illustrations 

by  Wii.i.iA.M  Rainey,  R.I.,  and  three  Plans.     Crown  Svo,  cloth  elegant,  ohvine  edges,  5s. 


BY  KATHERINE  TYNAN. 
The  Handsome   Brandons :  A 

Storj'  for  Girls.  With  twelve  page  Illustra- 
tions by  Gertrude  Demain  Hammond, 
R.I.  Crown  Svo,  cloth  elegant,  olivine 
edges,  6s. 

BY  OLIPHANT  SMEATON. 

A    Mystery    of     the    Pacific. 

With  ei.:ht  page  Illustrations  by  Wa  l  Paget. 
Crown  Svo,  cloth  elegant,  olivine  edges,  5s. 

BY  GORDON  STABLES. 

Courage,    True    Hearts.      The 

Storv  of 'Ihree  Hoys  who  Sailed  in  Search  of 
Fortune.  With  six  page  Illustrations  by  W. 
S.  Stacev.     Crown  Svo, cloth  elegant,  3s.  6d. 

BY  SHEILA  E.  BRAINE. 

The    Turkish    Automaton :    A 

Tale  of  the  Time  of  Catherine  the  Great  of 
Russia.  With  six  page  Illustrations  by 
William  Rainev,  R.I.  Crown  Svo,  cloth 
elegant,  3s.  6d. 

Also  TfBW  STORY  JSOOKS  at  Prices  fpom  as. 

Blackie  &  Son's  New  Catalogue  of  Books  suitable  for  Presentation,  &c. 


BY  E.  DAVENPORT  ADAMS. 
A    Girl    of   To-Day.      With    six 

page  Illustrations  by  Gehtrude  De.main 
Hammond,  R.I,  Crown  Svo,  cloth  elegant, 
3S.  6d. 

BY  J.  CHALMERS. 
Fighting  the  Matabele.    With 

six  page  Illustrations  by  Stanley  L.Wood. 
Crown  Svo,  cloth  extra,  3s.  6d. 

BY  ROBERT  LEIGHTON. 
The  Pilots  of  Pomona :  A  Tale 

of  the  Orkney  Islands.  New  Edition.  With 
six  page  Illustrations  by  John  Leighton. 
Crown  Svo,  cloth  elegant,  3s. 

BY  R.  NEISH. 
Chips  and  Chops.     With  sixteen 

Illustrations  by  H.  K.Millar.  Crown  Svo, 
cloth  extra,  2S. 


CHILDREN'S  BOOKS. 
An     Alphabet     of     Animals. 

With  Twenty-hve  full-page  Plates,  a  large 
number  of  Vignette^,  and  Cover  Design  by 
Carton  Moore  Park.  Demy  410  (13 
inches  by  10  inches),  5s. 

The  Troubles  of  Tatters,  and 

Other  Stories.  By  Alice  Talwin  MoRhis. 
With  sixty-two  charming  Illustrations  in 
Black-and-White  by  Alice  B.  Woodward. 
Square  Svo,  decorated  cloth  boards,  3s.  6d, 

Roundabout  Rhymes.    By  Mrs. 

Pkrcv  Dearmer.  With  twenty  full-page 
Illustrations  in  Colour,  Decorative  Title- 
page,  and  Cover  Design  in  two  colours. 
Imperial  Svo,  2s.  6d. 

The  Reign  of  Princess  Naska. 

By  Amelia  Hltchison  Stirling.  M.A. 
With  overfifty  Illustrations  by  Paul  Hardv. 
Crown  Svo,  cloth  elegant,  2s.  6d. 

Gd.  to  fid. 

sent  post  free  on  application. 


London:  BLACKIE  &  SON,  LixMited,  50  Old  Bailev. 


THE  EX-LIBRIS  SERIES. 

Edited  by   Gleeson  White. 

"  There  is  no  collection  of  books  about  books  in  any  language  so  practical,  so  useful,  and  so  generally  instructive  to  the 
book-lover  as  this.  It  may  be  considered  presumptuous  (or  me  to  say  so,  since  I  have  writteij  one  of  the  volumes,  but  when 
one  remembers  that  'Alphabets,'  '  Printers'  Marks,'  the  designs  of  Diirer  and  Holbein,  '  Bookbindings,'  '  Modern  Illustra- 
tion,' .ind  now  'Decorative  Illustration  '  are  found  in  it,  one  must  agree  with  Mr.  Walter  Crane  that  but  a  study  oi  end- 
papers is  needed  to  make  the  series  virtually  complete." — Mr.  Pennell  in  the  Daily  Chronicle. 

Printed  in  imperial  l6mo  i>y  the  Ckiswick  Press, 

ENGLISH     BOOK-PLATES.    ANCIENT    AND     THE  BAYEUX  TAPESTRY.    Reproduced  in  79 

Half-tone  Plates  from  Photographs  of  the  Work  originally  taken 
for  the  Department  of  Science  and  Art.  With  a  Histoncal  Descrip- 
tion and  Commentary  by  Frank  Kede  Fowke,  of  that  Depart- 
ment,    los.  6t!.  net. 


MODERN.  By  Egkrton  Castle,  M.A.,  F.S.A.  Third  Edition, 
with  203  Illustrations.  los.  6d.  net. 
"All  who  concern  themselves  with  books,  their  right  custody  and 
their  appropriate  adornment,  will  find  much  to  interest  and  instruct  them 
in  the  pleasant  little  monographs  on  book-plates  entitled  respectively 
'English  Hook-Plates".  .  .  and  *  French  Book-Plates.'  .  .  .  The  study 
and  collection  of  Ex-Llbris  is  a  very  fascinating  hobby,  and  these  two 
little  hanabooks,  which  are  very  fully  illustrated  with  striking  examples, 
will  go  far  to  furnish  it  with  adequate  guidance." — Times. 

FRENCH  BOOK-PLATES.    By  W.vlter  H.^mil- 

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national  feeling. 

Fairy  Tales  of  the  British  Empire. 

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graceful  and  humorous  art,  and  to  the  public  at  large, 
as  "  Fairy  Tciles  of  the  British  Empire."  ' 

English    Singing    Games.     Words 

and   Music   collected   and   edited   bv   Alice    B.    ' 
GoMME.     Pictured  in  Black  and  White  by  Wini-    \ 
FRED  Smith.     Two  charming  Albums,  each  3s.  6d. 
These  illustrations  won  for  Miss  Winifred  Smith 
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AD.   IV 


For  Early  Pulylication. 

In   the    Republic    of    Letters.     By 

W.  M.\csEiLE  Dixon,  Professor  of  English  Litera- 
ture at  Mason  College,  Birmingham.  Small 
crown  Svo.  printed  at  the  Constable  Press  on  laid 
paper,  cloth,  gilt  top,  edges  uncut,  3s.  6d. 

Contests  :  The  Poetry  of  Matthew  Arnold  ; 
the  Poetry  of  George  Meredith  ;  the  Poetry  of  the 
De  Veres ;  the  Novels  of  George  Meredith  ;  the 
Romantic  Revival.  &c. 

The  Mirror  of  Perfection.     Being 

an  English  version  of  the  '■  Speculum  Perfec- 
tionis  "  of  Brother  Leo,  the  favourite  disciple  of 
St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  by  Sebastian  Evans. 
l6mo.  elegantly  printed  at  the  Ballantyne  Press, 
and  bound  in  specially  designed  cloth  cover ; 
probable  price  2s.  6d. 

The  "  Speculum  Perfectionis "  of  Brother  Leo, 
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the  oldest,  the  most  authentic,  the  most  genuinely  faith- 
ful record  of  tlie  Saint's  life  and  work,  and  represents 
the  view  held  of  him  by  his  most  devoted  followers 
before  liis  legend  was  edited  in  accordance  with  the 
requirements  of  ecclesiastical  authority.  Dr.  Evans'' 
version  will  be  found  to  preserve  the  medieval  flavour 
of  the  original,  and  to  exhibit  the  same  qualities  which 
have  won  such  commendation  for  his  translation  of 
the  "High  History  of  the  Holy  Graal." 

The  Rubaiyat  of  Omar  Khayyam  ; 

an  English  Prose  Version  by  JrsTiN  Huntly 
McCarthy.     i6mo,  cloth  ;  probable  price  3s.  6d. 

Mr.  McCarthy's  version  of  Omar  Khayyam,  printed 
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edition  of  FitzGerald  as  a  book-lover's  rarity.  The 
present  edition,  printed  in  ordinary  type,  has  been 
thoroughly  revised. 

Just  Issued. 

SirQawain  and  the  Green  Knight. 

.•Abridged  in  Prose  from  the  Middle-English 
Alliterative  Poem  by  Jessie  L.  Weston,  Trans- 
lator of  Wolfram  von  Eschenbach's  "  Parzival  " 
(2  vols.  15s.)  Author  of  "The  Legends  of  the 
Wagner  Drama "  (6s.)  '•  The  Legend  of  Sir 
Gawain,  &c."  (4s.  net).  With  Designed  Title 
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The  poem  here  translated  for  the  first  time,  faithfully, 
save  for  a  certain  amount  of  abridgment,  has  long  been 
recognised  as  the  masterpiece  of  English  pre-Chaucerian 
narrative  poetry ,  and  as  one  of  the  finest  Arthurian  romances 
extant.  In  this  story  Sir  Gawain,  the  pattern  of  knight- 
.  hood  and  courtesy,  has  to  undergo  trials  alike  of  his  courage 
and  of  his  loyalty  in  the  face  of  amorous  temptation,  and 
comes  out  of  both  unscathed.  The  interesting  relations 
bettieen  the  English  romance  and  some  of  the  oldest  Irish 
heroic  legends  are  briefly  glanced  at  in  the  Editor's  Introduc- 
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"Sir  Gauiain  and  the  Green  Knight  "  is  intended  to  be 
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Malory's  Morte  D' Arthur,  and  derived  for  the  most  part 
from  an  earlier  and  more  mythic  stage  of  the  legend  than 
that  found  in  Malory. 


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THE  NATURE  POEMS  OF  GEORGE  MEREOITH. 

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To  Artists, 


ROBERT     W.     ROUTLEDGE, 


/^OLONEL 

late  Managing  Director  of  George  Rout- 
ledge  &  Sons,  Ltd.,  has  opened  a  Register  of 
Artists'  Names  and  Addresses  and  of  the  kind  of 
work  they  undertake,  and  will  be  pleased  to  receive 
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Terms  on  application. 

II  Henrietta  Street,  Covent  Garden,  W.C. 

AD.    IX 


THE  STUDIO 

"THE    STUDIO"    HAS    THE    LARGEST    CIRCULA- 
TION   IN    THE    WORLD    OF   ANY    MAGAZINE    DE- 
VOTED TO  THE  ARTS 


Some  Press   Opinions 


"  The  best  of  all  magazines  of  art." 

Daily  Mail. 

"The  most  successful  art  magazine  in  Europe." 

Daily  Chronicle. 

"  The  excellence  of  The  Studio  is  persistent. 
Month  after  month  the  pages  of  this  magazine,  so 
creditable  to  all  concerned,  and  an  irrefutable 
argument  that  art  in  England  is  not  a  mere  name, 
offer  a  new  surprise." — T/ie  Academy. 

"No  other  magazine  gives  such  a  variety  of 
lithographs,  colour-prints,  and  various  forms  of 
original  work  as  The  Studio." — TTie  Star. 

"For  profusion  of  illustrations  there  is  no  Art 
Magazine  that  can  compare  with  The  Studio." 

Yorkshire  Post. 

"  A  marvel  of  cheapness.'' — Hearth  and  Home. 

"  Indispensable  to  every  one  who  wishes  to  keep 
in  touch  with  modern  art  movements." — Globe. 

"  It  is  not  only  in  the  front  rank,  but  consider- 
ably in  advance  of  its  competitors." 

Liverpool  Review. 

"  The  Studio  has  proved  epoch-making  in  its 
way  in  pure  art-journalism,  waking  up  the  old 
monthlies  from  their  dreary  lethargy." — Sketch. 

'■  The  Studio  is  invariably  good,  full  of  good 
reading,  honest  and  cultured  criticism,  and  excellent 
illustrations  ...  a  model  of  elegance  and  taste." 
Birmingham  Daily  Gazette. 

"The  most  successful  art  magazine  in  the 
world." — National  Observer. 


"  From  the  moment  The  Studio  came  amongst 
us  we  found  ourselves  in  possession  of  a  magazine 
which  had  had  no  forerunner  and  which  has  had 
no  rival.  There  is  nothing  to  compare  to  it — it  is 
far  and  away  beyond  everything  else.  .  .  .  The 
Studio  has  done  more  for  the  right  diffusion  of 
the  right  art  in  England  than  all  the  other  maga- 
zines put  together,  and  more  than  most  of  the 
schools.  ...  I  believe  that  The  Studio  has  done 
more  for  the  beautifying  of  the  home  than  any 
other  part  of  the  great  machinery  which  found  its 
motive  power  in  the  vast  art  movement  of  our 
times ;  and  it  has  done  it  because  it  has  been 
guided  by  the  best  taste  and  motives.  .  .  .  Were 
I  cut  off  from  all  illustrated  magazines  but  one,  I 
would  choose,  feverishly  choose.  The  Studio." 
Mr.  Hal  Dane  in  St.  Pai/l's. 

"The  place  which  The  .Studio  has  supplied  in 
our  art  periodical  literature  would  now  seem  sadly 
blank  without  it.  It  began  well,  and  it  has  gone 
on  improving,  widening  the  range  of  its  observa- 
tion, broad  and  catholic  in  its  sympathies,  and 
increasing  in  the  number,  beauty,  and  variety  of 
its  illustrations.  It  is  a  highly  sensitive  mirror, 
reflecting  endless  phases  of  art,  and  commenting 
on  them,  not  in  that  tone  of  offensive  self-conscious 
superiority  into  which  art  critics,  more  than  others, 
are  liable  to  fall,  but  with  an  endeavour  to  under- 
stand and  interpret  the  aim  of  the  various  artists." 

Birmingham  Post. 

"Le  premier  magazine  artistique  du  monde." 

Le  Figaro. 


LONDON  :    5  HENRIETTA  STREET,  COVENT  GARDEN. 
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AD.    X 


OETZMANN  &   CO. 

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^ocictijfor|lroinotiiigCl|ristiint}iiioli]ltbiitij 


SIDE-LIGHTS  ON  CHURCH   HISTORY:  His- 

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I*;  at  once  fresh,  readable,  and  deserving  to  be  read. "— .-J//i«r«ffK»w. 

VERSES.    By  Christina  G.  RossETTi.  Reprinted 

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ART  PICTURES    FROM   THE    OLD  TESTA- 

MEN'!".  Sunday  Keadiii:;s  for  llic  \oun^.  -\  Series  of  Ninety 
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JOAN  THE    MAID :  Deliverer  of  England  and 

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HISTORICAL  CHURCH    ATLAS.      Illustrating 

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ANCIENT     HISTORY     FROM    THE    MONU- 

MENTS:  ASSYRIA,  KROM    THE   EARLIEST  TIMES  TO 
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AD.    XII 


THE    STl  DIO 

SPECIAL  WINTER  ., 


MODERN    BOOK-PL 


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BOOK-PLATE   BY 
HAROLD   NELSON 


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THE    STUDIO 


SPECIAL  WINTER-NUMBER  1898-9 


MODERN    BOOK-PLATES   AND   THEIR    DESIGNERS 


RITISH    BOOK-PLATES.      BY 
GLP:ES0N   WHITE. 


D 

I         ■       What  is  a  book-plate  ?     The  designer 
JL—-^  of  one  of  the   most  important   modern 
e.\amples,  which  he  cut  on  wood  him- 
self,   incised   around   the   edges    of  the  engraved 
block    the    legend:    "A    book-plate    is    a    foolish 


BV    CYRIL    GOLllIE 


thing."  Yet  this  definition  is  not  exhaustive.  It 
would  fail  to  supply  sufficient  suggestion  for  the 
most  abstruse  philosopher,  ignorant  of  all  that 
relates  to  book-plates,  to  evolve  an  example 
straight  away  from  his  inner  consciousness.  One 
man's  wisdom  is  often  another  man's  foolishness, 
and  so  we  must  search  farther.  The  matter-of- 
fact  reply  to  such  a  query  would  be  that  a  book- 
plate is  neither  more  nor 
less  than  a  label  intended 
to  be  affixed  in  a  book  to 
denote  its  ownership.  The 
accident  that  the  label  is 
sometimes  decorated,  or 
employs  armorial  evidences 
of  identity,  instead  of  the 
legibly  inscribed  name, 
affects  it  not  at  all. 

Book-plates  undoubtedly 
grew  from  the  coat-of-arms, 
which,  illuminated  on  a 
manuscript,  or  inserted 
within  a  bound  volume, 
performed  exactly  the  same 
purpose  that  the  signature 
of  the  owner  does  to-day. 
Indeed,  the  use  of  heraldry 
in  this  way  lingers  on  plate 
and  on  note  paper,  on 
coaches,  and  in  stained- 
glass  windows.  At  the  time 
the  book-plate  was  evolved, 
heraldic  indications  of  a 
man's  name,  rank,  and 
pedigree  were  more  easily 
interpreted  by  the  mass  of 
the  people  than  if  they  had 
been  written.  Nowadays 
the  reverse  holds ;  any- 
body can  read,  while  very 
few-  can  interpret  the  signifi- 
cance of  blazoned  arms. 
At  this  place  it  would  be 
interesting  to  look  back 
historically  and  trace  the 
evolution  of  the  book-plate 
through  the  centuries.  A 
plate  of  Jean  Knaupens- 
berg,  dated  about  1450,  is 
extant,  and  another  dating 
from  1480  or  thereabouts 
3 


524137 


BritisJi  Book-plates 


^^%:.,.,^ 


^Sni :  GLQ]fe^^ER|!^^ 


— a  "  gift-plate,"  as  it  is  called — is  known  to  have 
been  inserted  in  books  given  by  Hildebrand 
Brandenburg,  of  Biberach,  to  the  monastery  of 
Buxheim.  But  such  an  historical  sur\ey  would 
be  covering  ground  already  exhausted.  The  late 
Lord  de  Tabley,  published  his  admirable  Guide  to 
the  Study  of  Book-plates  in  1880.  In  1887,  Sir 
Augustus  Franks  circulated  privately  a  pamphlet 
on  English  Dated  Book-plates,  1574-1800.  This 
was  followed  with  other  pamphlets  by  Messrs.  J. 
Paul  Rylands,  H.  W.  Fincham,  and  James  Roberts 
Brown.  In  1892  the  first  edition  of  Mr.  Egerton 
Castle's  English  Bonk-plates  was  issued,  followed 
quickly  by  Mr.  Walter  Hamilton's  French  Book- 
plates. In  1893  Mr.  W.  J.  Hardy  contributed  his 
admirable  monograph,  Book-plates,  to  the  "  Books 
about  Books  "  scries,  and  Mr.  Egerton  Castle  revised 
and  greatly  enlarged  his  work  in  a  second  edition  ; 
and  in  1895  ^"^'^s  Noma  Labouchere  produced  a 
notable  treatise  on  Ladies'  Book-plates,  with  a  list 
that  seemed  exhaustive,  until  Mr.  J.  Carlton  Stitt 
supplemented  it  by  his  List  of  English  Ladies'  Armo- 
rial Book-plates.  1895  saw  also  the  issue  of  a 
fourth  volume  devoted  to  the  subject  in  Messrs. 
Bell's  "  Ex  Libris  "  series — American  Book-plates,  by 
Charles  Dexter  Allen  ;  and  the  same  year  witnessed 
the  completion  of  Mr.  Walter  Hamilton's  big 
quarto  volume,  Dated  Book-plates,  followed  in  1896 
by  a  greatly  enlarged  edition  of  his  French  Book- 
plates ("Ex  Libris" series).  In  1897  came  Mr.  H.  W. 
4, 


Fincham's  Monumental  Artists  and  Engrai>ers  of 
British  Book-plates,  and  in  1898  appeared  a  volume 
devoted  to  The  Market  I  'alue  of  Btmk-plales. 

Besides  this  formidable  array  of  authorities,  of 
whom  most  have  devoted  no  small  space  to  the  his- 
tory and  anecdote  of  their  subject,  there  have  been 
a  large  numlier  of  foreign  works.  So  far  we  have  not 
mentioned  the  official  publications  of  the  English 
"  Ex  Libris  "  Society,  which  has  issued  a  monthly 
magazine  since  1891,  nor  of  American  and  Conti- 
nental societies  devoted  to  the  cult  of  E.v  Libris,  nor 
the  many  articles  in  various  periodicals,  from  the 
"  Remarks  on  the  Invention  of  Book-plates  "  in  the 
Gintlenian's  Magazine,  1822,  to  the  current  numbers 
of  our  illustrated  magazines  and  weeklies,  which 
frequently  contain  reproductions  of  book-plates, 
with  short  articles  upon  the  subject. 

Therefore,  in  face  of  such  a  mass  of  information, 
accessible  to  all  who  wish  to  consult  it,  it  is  un- 
necessary to  do  more  than  indicate  where  it  may 
be  found,  and  we  may  pass  at  once  to  our  present 
theme,  the  modern  book-plate,  which  might  be 
still  further  limited    to    the    modern    "  pictorial " 


BY    W.    11.    .MARGETSO.N 


British  Book-plates 


BY   WALTER   ESSIE 


plate,  as  it  is  called.  The  revived  fashion  for 
the  use  of  specially  designed  labels  for  books 
usually  eschews  heraldry,  and  prefers  a  deco- 
rative name-plate,  except  in  a  few  cases,  where 
"  canting  heraldry,"  as  it  is  called,  is  able  to  pic- 
ture a  man's  names  by  hieroglyphics — e.g.,  Walter 
Crane  (a  jar  of  water  and  a  bird)  and  similar  cogno- 
mens that  can  be  represented  by  pictured  analogy. 
The  decoration  usually  employed  is  purely  an  addi- 
tion and  the  book-plate  justifies  its  existence  only 
because  the  owner's  name  is  (or  should  be)  clearly 
in  evidence.  As  a  rule,  the  legend,  E.x  Libris,  or 
E.  Libris,  also  appears  on  it.  Without  raising  the 
dispute  whether  Ex  or  E.  is  more  correct,  a  conflict 
which  is  akin  to  that  of  the  Big-enders  and  Little- 
enders  in  Gullii'ei-'s  Travels,  the  legend  finally 
establishes  the  fact  that  the  label  is  intended  for 
books,  and  books  only,  and  is  not  an  ornate 
luggage  label,  or  florid  visiting-card.  The  term  «.v 
libris,  so  often  found  on  a  book-plate,  is  in  com- 
mon use  outside  England,  and  is  frequently  em- 
ployed at  home  also  to  denote  the  label  itself.  It 
is  freely  used  as  a  noun,  an  adjective,  and  a  verb, 
and  rises  superior  to  syntax,  and  occasionally  to 
common  sense  also.  To  define  this  protean 
word  is  not  our  purpose.  "  He  exlibrises  "  may,  or 
may  not,  be  a  graceful  phrase  to  describe  the  pur- 
suit of  a  collector  of  book-plates  ;  yet,  although 
it  would  be  shocking  to  meet  it  in  print,  it  would 
hardly  be  surprising.  Considering  how  quickly 
the  bicycle  introduced  the  elegant  verb  "  to  bike," 
anything  of  the  kind  is  possible.  The  term  «.v 
libris,  like  many  another  refugee,  has  taken  root  in 
our  language.     The  "  Ex  Libris  "  Society,  devoted 


to  the  study  (and  amassing)  of  book-plates,  and  the 
"  Ex  Libris  "  series,  concerned  in  part  with  the 
history  of  the  book-plate,  are  but  two  of  the  many 
familiar  instances  of  its  employment.  Another 
and  still  more  reprehensible  intruder,  stiper-libros, 
applied  to  a  coat-of-arms  stamped  upon  a  leather 
binding,  and  usually  applied  to  the  outside  of  the 
cover,  must  be  named  only  by  way  of  protest. 
No  right-minded  person  uses  the  hateful  term, 
nor  can  any  logical  reason  be  found  to  excuse  it. 
Nobody  wants  to  call  a  coat-of-arms  on  a  carriage 
a  ''  super-vehiculos,"  or  a  crest  on  a  sheet  of  note- 
paper  a  "  super-chartos."  Even  if  such  charm- 
ing terms  were  more  gracefully  Latinised  would 
they  be  defensible  ?  Ex  libris  must  needs  be 
accepted,  if  only  as  a  convenient  synonym,  to 
avoid  undue  tautology  when  talking  or  writing  of 
book -labels.  All  the  same,  we  can  but  regret  that 
"  book-label "  had  not  been  generally  adopted  in 
the  place  both  of  "  book-plate  "  and  ex  libris. 

In  discussing  a  subject  so  limited  to  one  definite 
purpose,  as  a  book-plate  needs  must  be,  it  is  im- 
possible to  avoid  repeating  much  that  has  already 
appeared  in  The  Studio.  Yet  in  an  extra 
number,  which  is  supposed,  by  the  accepted  theory 
of  such  publications,  to  address  an  audience  out- 
side the  regular  subscribers  to  the  periodical  which 
issues  it,  it  may  be  pertinent  to  reiterate  certain 
advice  often  given  before.     If  the  advice  be  good, 


BY    I'AIU.    WOOIIKOI-KE 


British  Booh-platcs 


riaucLriackinlau.w 


BY   EI.I.A    E.    O.    IIAI.I.WARIJ 


and  is  still  disregarded  by  a  vast  number  of  people 
it  concerns,  its  repetition  becomes  a  duty,  although, 
like  many  monitors  who  preach  duty,  the  danger 
of  becoming  a  bore  in  so  doing  is  fatally  close  to 
the  writer. 

Book-plates  appeal,  broadly  speaking,  to  two, 
and  only  two,  classes  of  people.  First,  to  the 
collector  pure  and  simple,  who  does  not  permit  his 
greed  for  quantity  to  be  hampered  by  any  regard 
for  quality  ;  that  is  to  say,  for  artistic  quality.  He 
has  his  own  standards  of  value,  among  which  it  is 
to  be  feared  the  beauty  of  the  design  plays  a  very 
minor  part,  even  if  it  be  not  totally  ignored. 

The  book-plate  lovers,  who  form  the  other 
class,  regard  it  exactly  as  they  regard  any  other 
printed  device.  If  its  design  is  pleasing,  they  are 
pleased  with  it;  should  it  chance  to  be  by  a  well- 
known  artist,  they  value  it  as  a  specimen  of  his 
work.  If  it  shows  ingenuity,  good  technique,  and 
well-managed  decoration,  they  are  glad  to  possess 
an  impression,  and  even  to  mount  it  formally  in  a 
collection  ;  but  if  it  be  a  mere  commercial  pro- 
duct, or  a  feeble  scrawl  by  an  amateur  devoid  of 
taste  and  skill,  the  fact  that  it  is  a  book-plate  does 
not  prevent  its  consignment  to  the  rubbish-heap. 
A  certain  class  of  folk  would  have  you  believe  that 
an  "  etching  "  or  a  "  lithograph  "  becomes  interest- 
ing because  of  the  process  used ;  as  another  class 
look  upon  anything  serving  the  purpose  of  a  book- 
plate as  a  covetable  specimen.  Wiser  folk  know- 
that  many  "  etchings "  are  as  valueless  as  the 
6 


average  engraving  in  a  patent  medicine  jwrnphlet, 
and  these  care  no  more  for  a  Ixid  book-plate  than 
they  do  for  the  "  chromo  prints "  enclosed  in 
])ackets  of  cheap  ciL,'arettes.  'I'here  are  those  who 
<  oHect  all  these  things  ;  but  the  "  chiffonnier," 
useful  as  he  may  be  in  the  scheme  of  practical 
existence,  has  (or  should  have)  no  place  in  the 
field  of  art.  Rubbish,  be  it  in  the  form  of  book- 
plates or  cigar-ends,  is  merely  rubbish,  and  charms 
you  no  more  after  it  has  been  sorted,  classified, 
collected,  and  indexed,  than  when  it  reposed  in 
a  waste-paper  basket,  or  lay  unheeiletl  in  the 
gutter. 

It  is  true  that  against  such  a  sweeping  con- 
demnation of  poorly  designed  hook-|)lates,  those  of 
the  past  should  be  excepted.  As  documents  (of 
infinitely  minor  importance,  it  is  true),  they  may  be 
relegated  to  the  not  very  honourable  position  of 
mere  curios;  these  fulfil  a  certain   purpose  just  as 


SKETCH    roR   BOOK-IM.ATE 


BV   T.    II.    ROBINSON 


.i»':'f;^,-^:^«:iH* ;? 3s*;,>k».>  ^..•!,-5~ 


,■   r 


k. 


i^re4 


li- 


BOOK-PLATE  BY 
CHARLES   ROBINSON 


ii 


/>// 


iM  aud  M  a  cl<  i  nl  ai/  0^ 


■U    in     il 


liiU'il  ;i  lAi-taiii   purjiubc  jUbl 


^^ 


ic  writer. 


will)  liocb  tiut  permit  bis 
hampered  by  any  regani 
'  say,  for  artistic  quality.     H 


I  ■  I   It   exai 

p:      _     -   .ico.     If  v..     .     .., 
pleased  with  it:  should  it  ch;i 
known  artist,  they  value  it  .'i 
work.      If  it  shows  int'eniiitv. 


lion  ;  but  if  it  be  a  m- 

il'ji  I,  or  a  feeble  scrawl  by  a; 
tastt  and  skill,  the  fact  tliat  ii 

.■'  ,     or  a  ■ 

i:  ,  ■    of  the  I 

lool:  npon  anyl',  ^  the  pu; 

plate  as  a  covi  •—  -      ' 

that    many  "  ei 


1 


Brifis/i  Book-plates 


HY    W.     K.    WEVKR 


special  pleaders  find  some  defence  for  the  collec- 
tion of  postage-stamps.  But,  except  in  the  case  of  a 
very  raljid  collector,  a  single  example  of  a  worthless 
type  should  be  amply  sufficient.  As  a  hobby  for 
the  middle-aged,  who  do  not  happen  to  care  for 
art,  and  yet  need  something  to  give  them  a  zeal 
for  hunting  in  old  book-shops,  and  rearranging 
their  collection,  the  common  bookplate  is  popular 
and  innocuous ;  but  we  must  here  distinguish 
very  carefully  between  the  "book-plate"  as  it  is 
understood  by  these  simple-minded  enthusiasts, 
and  the  book-plate  as  it  appeals  to  lovers  of  art. 

For  the  collector  who  is  omnivorous — and  chiefly 
for  him,  it  is  to  be  feared — many  societies  exist;  and 


their  periodical  transactions  are  but  rarely  con- 
cerned with  its  art,  except  so  far  as  heraldry  enters 
into  its  composition.  So  the  many  monographs 
devoted  to  the  subject — some  admirable  as  litera- 
ture, and  betraying  the  writer's  distinct  apprecia- 
tion for  such  art  as  the  book-plate  offers — are  com- 
pelled to  devote  endless  pages  to  the  dreary  differ- 
ences between  Tweedle-dum  and  Tweedle-dee  to 
separate  their  subject  into  classes — Jacobean, 
Chippendale,  festoon,  and  wreath,  and  the  like,  of 
which  a  large  number  are  guileless  of  art.     The  sub- 


UV    W.    R.    WEYBR 


BY    W.    R.    WliVER 


ject  has,  moreover,  been  subdivided,  and  volumes 
devoted  to  ladies'  book-plates,  to  musical  dv/ZA/vs,  or 
to  the  "plates"  of  a  particular  locality,  are  not  infre- 
quent. But  although  several  works  on  the  technical 
aspects  of  the  plate,  with  special  attention  to  its 
engraver,  are  extant,  very  few,  if  any,  of  the  many 
pamphlets  and  treatises  have  been  devoted  entirely 
to  its  design.  Therefore,  perhaps,  it  would  be 
best  here  to  regard  the  tx  libris  solely  as  a  speci- 
men of  design  ;  at  the  same  time  (according  to  the 
creed  of  the  modern  craftsman),  insisting  that  to  be 
a  good  design  it  must  also  fulfil  loj-ally  the  purpose 
for  which  it  is  called  into  being.  But  if  it  were 
considered  only  in  this  aspect,  it  would  not  be 
seemly  to  declare  which  examples  deserve  to  be 
called  works  of  art,  and  which  must  take  the  lesser 

9 


British  Book-plates 


but  not  dishonourable  rank  of  excellent  de- 
signs. It  would  be  invidious  to  speak  dog- 
matically of  the  works  of  contemporaries, 
and  finality  of  verdict  is  seldom  within 
the  power  of  any  single  judge.  The  fashion 
of  the  hour  aflects  our  vision  more  than 
we  care  to  acknowledge,  so  that  no  doubt 
much  of  the  chaff  that  to-day  looks  like 
honest  wheat  will  be  quickly  dispersed  to  the 
four  winds  when  other  seasons  have  arrived. 
If  a  pattern  be  "  the  mode,"  specious  traves- 
ties are  often  able  to  pass  muster,  less  be- 
cause they  deceive  us  than  because  they  seem 
so  nearly  meritorious,  and  so  nearly  as  good 
as  their  betters  that  it  would  be  unjust  to 
condemn  them  entirely.  Certainly  no  attempt 
must  be  made  to  rank  all  modern  book- 
plates above  their  true 
level.  A  few,  but  only  a 
few,  are  entirely  admirable 
as  works  of  art ;  a  larger 
number  are  acceptable 
designs  fulfilling  certain 
conditions  admirably ; 
but  others,  even  those 
which  find  some  favour 
for  the  moment,  are  no 
whit  better  essentially 
than  many  of  past  dates, 
which  now  stand  revealed 
in  all  their  poverty  of 
idea  and  slovenly  or 
tamely  mechanical  execu- 
tion. Again,  it  is  hard 
to  apportion  the  merit  of 
"  the    second  best "  in  a 


BY  J.    WILLIAMS 


BY  J.    WILLIAMS 


BY    \.    WILLIAMS 


given  hundred ;   some  two  or  three 
(perhaps    a    half-dozen)    would    at 
once  be  placed  first  by  the  unani- 
mous opinion  of  critics  of  different 
views,    but    from    the    next    batch, 
representing    the    current   average, 
each  critic  would  sort  out  those  he 
chanced  to  dislike  least,   and  pro- 
bably no  two   of  such  assortments 
would    be    the    same.      Therefore, 
even  among  those  illustrated  here, 
carefully  as  they  have  been  selected, 
there  are  probably  examples  which  will  fail  to 
please  some  readers.      But,  all  the   same,   they 
may  be  taken  as  representing  the  best  average 
of  the  best  efforts  of  modern   designers  in   this 
connection. 

What  a  book-plate  should  be  is  a  large  matter 
to  define.  But  among  its  essentials  are,  first, 
that  it  bears  legibly  the  name  or,  at  least,  the 
monogram  of  its  owner  (that  is,  of  course, 
assuming  it  is  a  non-heraldic  plate).  It  is  con- 
venient in  many  cases  that  it  should  also  include 
his  address.  But  this  apparently  simple  addi- 
tion is  likely  to  bring  sorrow  upon  the  owner  of 
the  plate.  Not  because  he  may  change  his  abode, 
and  so  make  all  the  plates  incorrect,  requiring 
new  ones  substituted  ;  that  is  an  obvious  but 
minor  trouble  ;  the  real  danger  is  that,  having 
divulged  his  address,  the  whole  tribe  of  the 
collectors  from  the  next  street  to  the  farthest 
ends  of  the  earth  write  to  him  for  copies. 
Sometimes  they  enclose  specimens  of  their 
own  plate,  very  rarely  they  are  even  courteous 


British  Book-plates 


and  tactful  to  the  extent  of  enclosing  postage- 
stamps  of  a  sort  the  receiver  can  use  in  replying. 
As  a  rule,  they  either  omit  stamps  or  send  speci- 
mens of  local  issues  not  current  here.  But  the 
time  and  trouble  involved  in  replying  to  these 
unsolicited  demands  are  likely  to  bring  the  whole 
cult    into    disrepute,    especially    as    it    is    darkly 


BY   D.    E.    WILSON 


hinted  that  not  a  few  of  these  pestilent  corre- 
spondents beg  only  to  sell  the  plates  they  have 
amassed — whether  in  a  collection  or  separately 
hardly  affects  the  question.  To  ask  for  a  gift  with 
a  view  to  future  pecuniary  profit  at  once  places  the 
demand  on  the  level  of  commercial  advertising 
circulars,  and  such  applications  can  be  dropped 
straight  into  the  waste-paper  basket  with  a  clear 
conscience.  Only  those  who  have  suffered  can 
realise  the  real  nuisance  of  daily  applications  for 
copies  of  one's  book-plate  or  plates,  as  the  case  may 
be.  Any  owner  of  a  noteworthy  example  (espe- 
cially if  his  position  in  life,  from  whatever  cause, 
makes  his  address  easy  to  discover)  would  tell  of 
dozens,  possibly  of  hundreds,  of  such  applications 
persistently  recurring  in  undiminished  numbers. 
Therefore,   unless  the  plate  be   for  a  permanent 


library,   private  or  public,    the    owner's    address 
thereupon  cannot  be  deemed  essential. 

In  these  days  of  photographic  reproduction,  a 
label  need  not  be  limited  to  one  size.  As  a  rule, 
plates  are  larger  than  need  be,  and  too  often  lose  the 
idea  of  a  decorated  label,  and  become  a  picture,  with 
the  owner's  name  below.  Upon  a  perfectly  satisfac- 
tory plate  the  due  prominence  of  the  owner's  name 
as  an  integral  part  of  the  design  is  essential.  It 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  a  book-plate  need  not 
be  (but  too  often  is),  a  sort  of  pictorial  summary  of 
its  owner's  pursuits  and  fads.  In  essence  it  is 
merely  a  printed  version  of  the  ordinary  autograph 
that  most  people  inscribe  in  their  books.  They 
do  not  follow  their  names  with  a  running  com- 
mentary, such  as  :  "  Bicycles  a  bit,  is  fond  of  roses, 
sketches  a  Httle,  keeps  bees,  admires  Egyptian 
art,  is  fond  of  reading,  plays  golf,  keeps  a  pet 
kangaroo."  Yet  some  such  absurd  medley  of 
unrelated  facts  appears  in  hieroglyphics  on  many 
a  plate,  mi.xed  up,  it  may  be,  with  a  few  great 
verities — Love,  Death,  The  Triumph  of  the 
Obvious,  and  the  Consequences  of  Eating  Apples 
in  Eden  —  thrown  in  to  knit  the  whole  design 
together.  As  well  cover  a  house  with  pictorial 
posters  announcing  its  inmates'  tastes,  or  add  to  a 
luggage  label  the  political,  social,  and  theological 
views  of  its  owner,  with  a  few  playful  allusions  to 


BY    II.    E.    WILSOS 


Brifis/i  Booh-plafcs 


CnAGLES 

MOLne 


which  is  as  ajil  as  it  would  be  to  embroider 
on  one's  purse,  "  He  who  steals  my  purse 
steals  trash."  Such  things  are  like  a  pun 
on  a  man's  name ;  if  it  \yt  new  to  the  pun- 
sters it  is  sure  to  Ix;  fatally  old  to  the 
punned-upon,  and  merely  cxi)oses  the  would- 
be  "  funny  "  person  to  contemptuous  silence, 
if  not  to  a  still  more  unpleasant  experience. 

In  short,  it  seems  that  the  one  personal 
taste  which  is  not  incongruous  when  expressed 
on  a  book-plate  is  its  owner's  laste  in  books. 
If,  like  the  majority  of  people,  his  reading  be 
fairly  eclectic — ranging  from  a  shilling  shocker 
to  Herliert  Spencer,  a  minor  poet  to  a  new 
humorist — so  healthy  a  taste  needs  no  sign- 
board announcing  the  fact.  As  well  say,  "  I 
am  moderately  honest,  I  pay  as  litde  income- 
tax  as  my  conscience  allows,  I  am  as  patriotic 
as  I  can  be  economically,  and  I  am  a  deuced 
fine  fellow  at  heart,  although  you  might  not 
think  it !  "  Such  a  confession  would  hold 
true  for  hundreds  of  thousands  out  of  every 
million  of  IJritish  citizens.  But  it  is  needless 
to  give  such  a  statement  publicity  :  nobody 
doubts  it : 

Did  the  whole  object  of  a  book-plate  de- 
pend upon  its  appearance  in  the  albums  of 
fellow-collector.s,  such  absurdities  might  be 
less  unpardonable.  Advertisement  is  a  great 
factor  in  modern  life ;  and  those  who  thus 
utilise  1    a  hobby    to   advance   their  own  im- 


BV  .1.    W.    SIMPSON 


his  domestic  habits.  That  some  bookish 
fantasy  may  be  not  merely  tolerable  but 
pertinent  is  admitted.  That,  if  the  owner 
of  the  plate  is  a  collector  of  any  given  species 
of  books,  something  appropriate  should  adorn 
his  ex  libris,  is  also  granted.  Hut  while  a 
collector  of  books  on  fishing  may  ask  for  a 
rod  and  the  rest  of  his  sporting  outfit  to  be 
symbolised  ;  if  he  be  only  an  angler,  why  state 
it  on  the  plate  ?  If  he  is  fond  of  reading, 
why  explain  it  in  the  most  obviously  unneces- 
sary place — his  books  ?  That  a  man  should 
lalx.-l  his  bicycle  with  a  reference  to  his  books 
is  not  more  foolish  than  that  he  should  label 
his  books  with  a  reference  to  his  bicycle.  But 
to  proclaim  on  his  cycle  that  he  cycled,  or 
on  his  books  that  he  is  bookish,  seems  the 
most  foolish  of  all. 

Nor  is  even  a  reading  maiden  or  a  youth 
an  ideal  motive.  It  is  excellent,  but  it  is 
also  very  hackneyed — as  time-worn,  indeed, 
as  the  would  be  "  funny "  quotation  {i.e., 
would  be  "  funny "  in  this  context),  "  The 
wicked    borroweth    and    payeth    not  again," 


JWSIMPSON 
HIS  BOOK 


BY  J.    W.    SIMPSON 


British  Book-plates 


BY  J.    W.    SIMPSON 


which  your  genuine  collec- 
tor regards  much  as  "  the 
proud  scion  of  a  noble 
race,"  with  many  quarter- 
ings  on  his  shield,  looks 
down  on  one  who  has  but 
a  doubtful  right  to  a 
crest,  and  conscious  of  the 
extreme  uncertainty  of  his 
claim  to  armorials,  con- 
tents himself  with  a  mono- 
gram. Yet  the  most  rabid 
collectors  instinctively  ac- 
cept without  protest  the 
meanest,  poorest  devices 
a  tradesman  offers  them, 
and  so  far  seem  to  have 
made  no  consistent  effort 
to  restore  the  once  noble 
science  of  heraldry  to  its 
true  dignity.  This  is  the 
more  regrettable  since 
among  the  earliest  armorial 


portance  would  show  some  reason  for  "  playing  it 
for  all  it  was  worth."  But  to  stick  in  one's  books 
these  pretty,  self-selected  autobiographies,  ex- 
pressed through  the  medium  of  picture  language 
adapted  for  infant  minds,  is  folly.  In  the  ordinary 
course  of  events  a  man's  books  do  not  pass  from 
his  possession  during  his  life,  and  why  therefore 
need  he  make  note  of  his  current  taste  in  each  one  ? 
Or  if  he  is  preparing  for  posthumous  advertisement, 
why  put  in  his  books  that  which  good  taste  has  long 
banished  from  tombstones  ? 

An  Englishman  usually  prides  himself  upon  his 
reticence  concerning  his  personal  tastes  and  affairs, 
a  habit  jealously  guarded  for  centuries  and  not  to 
be  set  aside  by  the  allurements  of  a  "pictorial  plate." 
Even  the  most  foolish  person  is  apt  to  find  his 
tastes  ripen  (or  decay)  with  years,  and  the  heroes 
of  his  youth  rarely  survive;  consequently,  if  he  elects 
to  have  certain  authors  permanently  immortalised 
as  his  household  gods,  he  is  driven  either  to  the 
banal  choice  of  "Shakespeare  and  the  Bible"  (as 
one  current  design  has  it),  or  else  he  sees  with  regret 
a  proclamation  of  his  loyal  devotion  to  the  names 
of  authors  whose  allurements  he  has  outlived. 

It  is  strange  to  find  that  collectors,  as  a  rule — 
even  cultured  people — are  unconcerned  with  the 
artistic  reticence  of  the  book-plate ;  indeed,  not  a 
few  instinctively  distrust  and  dislike  those  speci- 
mens which  betray  even  a  slight  value  as  designs. 
Mi.xed  symbolism,  jumbled  hieroglyphics,  faltering 
technique,  and  hackneyed  imagery  find  favour  in 
their  eyes.  But  if  collectors  of  this  class  were 
enthusiastic  about  heraldic  design  to  the  exclusion 
of  all  else,  we  might  pardon  their  chary  recognition 
of  these  specimens  of  so-called  "  pictorial  plates," 


BY  J.    W.    SIMI'SOX 


Byitisli  Boolc-platcs 


needful  to  protest  openly  against  its  neglect  of  a 
patent  duty.  This  is  urged  against  the  attitude 
of  the  e.\liii;itions  as  a  whole,  not  in  favour  of  one 
artist  above  another,  or  of  one  style  of  design. 
There  are  dozens  of  good  styles — from  the 
beautiful  engravings  of  Mr.  C.  W.  Sherborn 
(which  the  Society  appears  to  appreciate  fully), 
the  etchings  of  Mr.  G.  W.  Eve,  the  pen-draw- 
ings of  Mr.  Erat  Harrison  and  Mr.  W.  R.  Weyer 
— among  heraldic  designers,  to  the  legion  of 
draughtsmen  who  turn  out  so-called  "  pictorial 
plates."  Whether  you  choose  mediaeval  styles, 
old  German,  Rococo,  French,  or  the  latest 
mannerism  in  black-and-white,  there  are  always 
men  who  do  admirable  work  in  their  chosen 
style,  and  others  who  are  merely  feeble  imitators, 
copying  all  the  weaknesses  of  their  models  and 
omitting  the  redeeming  merits. 

It  is  surely  not  asking  too  much  of  a  book- 
plate that  it  should  betray  both  idea  and 
adecjuate  execution.  Possibly,  if  either  the 
idea  or  its  rendering  is  superlatively  good,  one 
may  forgive  the  absence  of  the  other  (juality ; 
but  when  both  idea  and  execution  are  tame 
and  foolish,  when  neither  symbolism  nor  deco- 
ration are  more  than  trite  and  hackneyed,  when 
the  whole  design  has  but  one  dominant  note, 
and  that  is  "  arrant  vulgarity,"  both  in  idea  and 


BY    M.    F..    TIIOMrsON 


plates  are  some  designs  by  Albert  Dlirer,  and 
in  the  first  centuries  of  their  use,  many  armorial 
devices  of  real  beauty,  considered  solely  as 
decoration.  That  the  English  "  Ex  Libris  " 
Society  has  not  been  specially  anxious  to  im- 
prove the  designs  for  book-plates  is  the  worst 
truth  to  be  urged  against  it.  For  if  a  repre- 
sentative society  does  not  display,  by  advice  and 
practice,  a  real  desire  to  raise  the  artistic  merit 
of  the  objects  whose  collecting  it  deems  worthy, 
it  has  missed  a  peculiarly  timely  opportunity. 
No  personal  respect  for  its  individual  members 
can  be  allowed  to  stand  in  the  way  of  plain- 
speaking.  Judging  from  the  criticism  of  new 
and  old  plates  published  in  its  official  publica- 
tions, the  personal  plates  of  some  (not  all)  of 
its  officers,  and  the  rubbish  prominently  dis- 
played at  its  annual  exhibitions,  it  would  be 
scarcely  an  exaggeration  to  declare  that  its 
influence  has  been  positively  harmful,  or — taking 
the  most  lenient  view — absolutely  nil,  on  modern 
design.  That  contemptible  designs  should  be 
passed  over  in  silence  is  bad  enough  ;  but  when, 
as  has  been  often  the  case,  quite  inferior  designs 
have  been  awarded  places  of  honour,  and  first- 
class  work  has  been  stuck  in  odd  corners,  it  is 
14 


BY    M.    E.    THOMPSON 


British  Book-plates 


BY  J.    WALTER   WEST 


sideration  for  the  ordinary  principles  of  good 
design  that  would  be  applied  to  any  other  species 
of  composition.  It  has  too  frequently  been  the 
custom  to  regard  heraldry  as  something  of  so 
profoundly  a  mysterious  nature  that  it  was  thought 
to  excuse  poverty  of  invention,  ignorant  drawing, 
and  incoherent  composition.  .  .  .  Every  form  of 
art  has  peculiarities  which  more  or  less  control  its 
technique,  and  heraldry  no  less  than  others ;  but 
that  is  all.  Artistic  weakness  is  no  less  weak 
because  it  is  heraldic."  While  heraldic  forms  must 
needs  be  not  pictorial  and  realistic  but  conven- 
tionalised to  a  great  extent,  yet  there  is  all  the 
difference  between  a  lifeless  copy  of  a  dead  con- 
vention and  a  new  type  evolved  by  the  worker. 
Nor,  as  drawings  alone,  do  the  heraldic  plates  of 
to-day  fail  to  satisfy  one ;  they  are  usually  vignetted 
groups  of  arms — i.e.  enclosed  in  no  panel,  or  if 
enclosed,  in  no  way  conforming  to  the  proper 
decoration ;  yet  few  subjects  are  more  suitable  for 
filling  a  rectangular,  a  circular,  or  almost  any 
normal  shape,  than  those  of  heraldry,  where  with 
mantling,  ribbons  and  other  devices,  there  is  pre- 
cedent for  every  form  of  treatment,  except  the  pitiful 
idea  which  obtains  in  most  illustrated  Peerages 
and  works  of  the  same  sort,  or  on  the  engravings 
of  modern  silver  ware,  the  type  that  has  been 
accepted  as  fitting  on  the  commercial  book-plate 
for  years  past. 


execution,  strong  words  are  needful,  and  unless  the 
book-plate  is  to  become  contemptible,  some  of  its 
admirers  should  come  forward  to  purge  their  collec- 
tions of  unworthy  specimens.  Especially  is  this 
true  of  heraldic  plates  to-day.  A  bare  half-dozen 
designers  could  be  found  whose  work  is  above  the 
level ;  the  rest  are  mere  commercial  engravers,  with 
a  deadly  dull  ideal  of  neatness  as  their  one  aim. 
Their  designs  possess  no  "colour,"  as  an  artist 
understands  the  work  in  their  black-and-white  ;  no 
"  decorative "  feeling,  as  the  old  heraldic  artists 
possessed  in  remarkable  degree ;  no  attempt  at 
vigour  or  splendour  of  design,  both  characteristic 
of  the  best  plates ;  but  in  place  of  these  sturdy 
qualities  we  find  prim  little  motives  mechanically 
drawn  with  a  thin  scratchy  line,  absurd  deference 
paid  to  "tinctures"  (a  late  innovation),  and  not  an 
inch  of  real  "  drawing,"  real  invention,  in  a  hundred 
examples.  Compare,  for  instance,  a  lion  as  the  old 
men  drew  him,  with  the  jejeune  beast  rampant  (in 
name  only)  on  most  modern  plates,  or  even  a  con- 
ventional form,  such  as  the  jleur-de-lys,  as  we  find 
it  on  shields  at  Westminster  Abbey  and  elsewhere, 
with  life  and  strength  in  its  lines,  contrasted  with 
the  geometrical  figure,  dull  and  formal,  that  re- 
presents it  to-day.  There  are  certain  liberties 
which  must  not  be  taken ;  but,  as  Mr.  G.  W.  Eye, 
one  of  the  most  accomplished  heraldic  designers, 
has  said : — 

"  Heraldry  must  be  treated  with  the  same  con- 


BV   J.    WALTER   WEST 


»s 


Rritisli  Book-plates 


Mr.   E. 


Hence  modern  heraldic  tx  libris  of  worthy  design,  ahvajs 
excepting  the  finely  engraved  copper-plates  of  Mr.  C.  W.  Sher- 
born,  the  etched  plates  of  Mr.  G.  \V.  Eve,  a  few  by  D.  Y. 
Cameron,  and  possibly  one  or  two  occasional  examples  by  men 
of  lesser  note,  are  non-existent.  In  pen-drawn  designs  we  find 
Mr.  Erat  Harrison  and  Mr.  \V.  R.  W'eyer  almost  alone  in  even 
an  attempt  to  use  heraldic  forms  witii  any  feeling  for  modern 
decoration,  although  those  by  Mr.  Harry  Soane,  if  not  very  novel 
in  treatment  or  varied  in  idea,  are  distinctly  removed  from  the 
average  level,  and  deserve  their  rightful  meed  of  praise.  There- 
fore the  heraldic  plate  is  but  sparsely  represented  here. 

Among  modern  designers  for  pictorial  cv  libris, 
A.  Abbey,  R.A.,  has  composed 
a  trio  of  characteristic  and  de- 
lightful drawings  for  Austin 
Dobsoii,  Edmund  Gosse,  and  J. 
Brander  Mat/tews,  three  authors 
of  note  wlio  (I  believe)  have 
each  decided  to  refuse  a  copy 
of  his  plate  to  all  and  sundry 
collectors  who  write  desiring  ex- 
changes. It  is  not  fair  to  make 
public  many  of  the  designs  herein 
reproduced  or  referred  to  without 
stating  the  attitude  of  the  owners 
of  the  first  designs  noticed,  which 
is  being  adopted  by  many  other 
owners  of  plates  ;  an  attitude  fully 
justified  by  circumstances,  and 
one  likely  to  become  still  more 
general    as    the  army   of   persis- 


EX  LIBRIS 


ED^X^ARD 
MORTON 


IIV    K.    H.    NHW 


mcreases    its 


EH 


HERBERT'S- 
POLL^RDl 


UV    E.    II.    NEW 


tent    collectors 
demands. 

Reproductions  of  Mr.  G. 
W.  Eve's  etched  plates  give  so 
poor  an  idea  of  their  quality, 
as  proved  by  several  attempts 
made  elsewhere,  that  here  it 
has  been  thought  best  not  to 
attempt  it.  Hut  had  it  been 
possible  to  give  good  impres- 
sions of  the  Rouge  Dragon 
plate  or  of  those  for  George 
Edward  Cokayne,  and  half-a- 
do/-en  others,  his  full  right  to 
the  very  highest  praise  for 
heraldic  ex  libris  would  be 
unquestioned.  Employing 

Kv  K.  II.  NEW  etching    usually,    he    gains    a 

certain  force  which  copper- 
plate engraving  rarely,  if  ever, 
achieves.  His  drawing  is  crisp,  his  floral  forms  recall  the 
best  examples  of  Gothic  carvings,  his  sense  of  composition 
and  spacing  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired.  In  short,  within 
the  limits  of  the  armorial  plate  he  is  in  the  very  front  rank ; 
to  say  more  would  be  needless,  to  say  less  would  be  ungracious 
in  face  of  the  plain  f;xcts  evident  to  any  observer.  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  fiiirly  complete  list  of  his  finished  designs,  to  which 
should  be  added  two,  if  not  three  plates,  executed  for  her 
Majesty's  library  at  Windsor  Castle  : 

IV.  Flory,  1891  ;  Frederick  B.  Senior,  1892;  H.  Astley 
Phillips,  1892;  W.  H.  Weldon,  1892;  Evarard  IV.  Barton, 
1892;  A.  R.  M.,  1892;  Sir  David  Evans,  K.C.M.G.,  1893; 
IV.  H.  Weldon,  1893;  R.  E.  H.  D.,  1894;  //».%■<•//  /.  J. 
Price,  1894;   The  Duke  of  Argyll,  K.G.,  K.T.,   1893;  Dragon 


16 


British  Book-plafcs 


Crest  Plate,  1893:  Algernon  Sidney  Bicknell, 
1894;  Philip  Wm.  Poole  Brittoii,  F.S.A.,  1894; 
Slen'cirt     Bemichainp      Givatkin,     1894  ;      IV.     H. 


IVeldon,     1895  :    R. 


S.   Manscrgli, 


1895  ;    Sidney 


Bicknell,  1895;  R.  S.  Mansergh,  1895;  ^-  ^■ 
Cokayne,  1895;  E.  Touts,  iS()^ ;  James  Frederick 
Chance,  1895  j  Elisabeth  Anne  Bostock,  1895  ; 
Evcrard  Greene,  F.S.A.  (Rouge  Dragon  Pur- 
suivant),    1895;     IV.     Swaine    Chishenhale-Marsh, 

1895  ;  Thomas  Green,  1895  ;  H.  Farnham  Burke, 
F.S.A.  (Somerset  Herald) ;  John  If.  Walker,  1896  ; 
Georgii  Ale.xandri  Lockett,  1896;   C.    V.  S.  Downes, 

1 896  ;  Sir  John  Barran,  1 896  ;  William  Farrer, 
1897.  All  the  above  are  etched  except  Flory 
and  Senior,  the  former  having  been  engraved 
from  his  original  pen-drawing;  the  latter  was 
processed. 

To  find  Mr.  Walter  Crane  early  in  the  field  with 
ex  libris  is  far  less  surprising  than  to  discover  that  he 
has  not  designed  half-a-dozen  all  told.     Those  for 


_    o  oJis-  i-rv-  ru  n- 
rLin^SrrooA&- 


BY  J.    J.    r.UTHRIE 


his  own  use, for  the  \a.te Frederick  Locker^-Lampson], 
for  May  Morris,  for  Alexander  Tiirnbiill,  and  for 
Clement  Shorter,  have  been  so  often  reproduced, 
that  it  would  be  superfluous  to  illustrate  them 
anew.  The  happy  hieroglyphics  expressing  the 
owners'  names,  in  "Turn-bull,"  or  his  own  plate, 
have  already  been  referred  to. 

Mr.  \V.  H.  Foster,  of  Plymouth,  has  executed 
a  number  of  plates  which  find  considerable  favour 
with  members  of  the  Ex  Libris  Society.  If  some, 
considered  solely  as  designs,  appear  to  be  over  full  of 
details,  yet  others  reveal  capable  craft,  and  pleasant 
invention,  notably  those  for  William  Bethell,  1894. 
Mr.  Fincham  gives  the  names  also  of  William 
Bethell,  1895,  George  Collett,  Reginald  Kelly,  John 
Grainger  Leonard,   F.  Mitchell,   Henry   W.   Xiirce, 


)     EX 
LIBBI3 


BY  J.   J.    OITHRIE 


Col.  W.  F.  Prideaii.x  (two  designs),  Plymouth  Free 
Library,  Sellers,  G.  A.  Touch,  Rev.  B.  W.  J. 
Trevaldwyn,  and  W.  H.  K.  Wright. 

The  powerful  and  striking  design  of  e.\-  libris  for 
T.  Edmund  Har-jey,  by  Cyril  Goldie,  is  at  once  a  fine 
piece  of  work,  and  peculiarly  exemplifies  the  grim 


M  COLD  BUT  ?fl 


BY  J.   J.    OITHKIE 


British  Book-plates 


m^ 


^^^m 


1— II  O)  r?  f-vii  E  R. 


BV    R.    WAUD 


fancies  which  this  young  artist  affects.  It  is  rarely 
that  themes  are  exiircsscd  with  the  virility  and 
command  of  line  that  distinguish  this. 

Mr.  J.  J.  ("lUthrie,  a  young  artist  whose  career 
for  some  years  past  has  not  been  overlooked  by 
those  interested  in  new  developments,  has  just 
come  to  the  front  with  a  number  of  clever  draw- 
ings, executed  in  a  manner  founded  but  slightly 
on  his  predecessors.  A  really  beautiful  ex  libris  for 
Joshua  Buchanan  Guthrie,  very  well  composed,  and 
one  for  Edivard  John  Sachs,  have  been  illustrated 
several  times  elsewhere  ;  here  he  is  represented  by 
two  pure  labels  which,  if  they  fail  to  show  his  full 
power,  are  pleasant  by  reason  of  their  simplicity  ; 
and  by  a  very  graceful  unnamed  design  of  a  girl 
in  a  cowl  holding  a  book.  He  has  done  other 
noteworthy  designs  for  William  A.  Rowrie,  Arthur 
Lyman  Churchill,  and  John  Jackson  Guthrie.  The 
charm  of  Mr.  (iuthrie's  work  rests  no  little  in  the 
mastery  of  his  own  convention  of  white  on  black, 
which  is  more  fully  expressed  in  his  illustrations. 
Mrs.  Arthur  (iaskin  (Georgie  Cave  France)  seems 
to  have  done  only  a  few  e.v  libris,  one  for  Andrew 
W.  Tucr,  another  for  William  Neish,  and  an 
anonymous,  plate  (illustrated  in  Miss  Labou- 
chere's  Ladies'  Book-plates),  being  all  that  come 
to  mind. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Margetson's  plate  for  Edivard  J. 
Margctson  (page  4),  with  a  singularly  charming 
figure  of  "  Music  "  thereupon,  has  set  a  standard 
which  it  is  to  be  hoped  he  will  often  follow. 
Another,  for  Bessie  Lyle  Hatton,  was  illustrated 
18 


in  luidies'  Book-plates,  but  a  very  elegant  circular 
plate  of  this  design  appears  not  to  have  been  re- 
produced so  far. 

The  one  plate  Mr.  Talwin  Morris  has  designed 
is  also  a  "joint-plate,"  according  to  ex  librist 
termiology ;  that  is,  it  is  a  plate  for  wife  and 
husband.  The  original  is  in  two  colours,  green 
and  black.  It  is  a  delightful  example  of  a 
true  label-device  ;  as  one  would  have  expected 
from  a  designer  of  such  originality  and  refine- 
ment. 

Mr.  Paul  Woodrofie,  one  of  the  most  felicitous 
designers  of  pure  ornament,  has  done  but  a  few 
plates,  a  very  dainty  pictorial  scheme  for  Lilian 
Mooral,  an  armorial  for  F.  N.  Carr  IVallace,  and 
one  for  Richard  Trappes-Lomax  (page  5),  here  re- 
produced for  the  first  time. 

Mr.  Charles  Robinson,  the  artist  of  Stevenson's 
"Child's  Garden  of  N'erse,'' and  many  another  book 
treasured  by  collectors,  appears  here  for  the  first 


«Y    I-.   J.    BILIJ.NGIIURST 


BritisJi  Book-plates 


BY    P.   J.    BILLINGHTRST 

time  as  a  designer  of  book-plates,  with  a  very 
typical  and  elaborate  composition  for  Fred.  IV. 
Brown.  Mr.  T.  H.  Robinson  is  represented  by  a 
sketch  design  for  his  brother's  plate  ;  a  suggestive 
decorative  scheme,  which  will  doubtless  be  worked 
up  into  a  very  distinguished  e.x  libris.  Mr.  G. 
W.  Rhead,  joint  artist  of  a  great  illustrated  edition 
of  Bunyan's  "  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  just  about 
to  appear,  is  represented  by  a  single  plate,  with 
his  own  monogram.  \Miether  he  has  done  others 
or  not,  Mr.  Fmcham  and  the  rest  of  the  authori- 
ties have  no  note  of  them. 

The  pretty  little  design  for  Maud  Mackinlay  by 
Miss  Ella  Hallward,  reproduced  on  page  6,  is  an 
excellent  example  of  the  technique  she  has  made 
her  own,  and  a  distinctly  pleasant,  unpretentious 
book-plate. 

Mr.  W.  R.  Weyer  is  one  of  the  few  heraldic 
designers  specially  excepted  from  the  adverse 
criticism  which  the  majority  deserve.  His  pen- 
drawings    at    times    approach  the    delicacy  and 


strength  of  copper-plate  engravings.  His  source 
of  "  colour  "  in  black  and  white  is  good,  and  as 
heraldry  experts  approve  his  manner,  so  artists 
approve  his  compositions.  Plates  for  Anthony 
Atthill  (four),  Major  Philip  E.  Back  ("two),  Ernest 
Felice,  IV.  F.  Green,  Mark  Knights,  H.T.  S.  Patie- 
son,  Thomas  J.  Scott,  William  Weyer,  and  W.  R. 
Weyer,  show  him  in  purely  decorative,  and  in 
armorial  examples,  and  the  later  plates  witness  a 
great  advance  in  technique  and  mastery  of  his 
material. 

Mr.  P.  J.  Billinghurst,  with  a  design  for  Kate 
Pembury,  here  reproduced,  shows  his  fondness  for 
animal  forms,  which  but  recently  was  more  fully 
appreciated  in  The  Studio.  It  is  a  pleasant 
composition,  if  hardly  sufficiently  "a  label"  to  be 
quite  admirable  as  a  book-plate. 

Mr.  John  Williams  is  a  very  prolific  designer, 
and  one,  moreover,  whose  work  improves  on 
acquaintance.  For  if  not  singularly  novel,  it 
obeys  the  convention  of  a  decorated  label,  supplies 
clearly  legible  inscriptions,  and  leaves  nothing  to 
be  desired  in  straightforward  technique.  His 
designs,  according  to  Mr.   Fincham's  list,  include 


Ex  Libris  Hubert!  Bland. 


BY    I..\URENCE    IIOLSMAN 


19 


British  Book-plate. 


fx  libris  for  Edii'ard  Ayres,  II.  B.  Ayrrs,  II.  li.  and 
R.  L.  Ay/rs,  A.  N.  //'.  S.  C/tirk  Kfiittiily,  Edivani 
Crahh,  E.  Crai\.<sliau\  R.  II'.  L.  F.  Diiniull,  ('•rrtrude 
II.   Edlir.aiin    (two),  llnhnt  Edlniaiiii,  //.  IV.  Fin- 


[rHE*SCOTTISH*ARTS*CLVB 


numljcr  of  book-|>latcs,  which  his  art  would  at 
once  raise  to  something  worth  possessing,  worth 
treasuring. 

Mr.  J.  W.  Simpson,  a  new  comer  in  the  field, 
has  already  won  his  spurs  ;  at  the  recent  exhibi- 
tion of  the  E.X  Libris  Society,  a  group  of  his  work 
was  the  most  satisfactory  novelty  in  the  collection. 
Here  we  rei)roduce  ])lates  for  James  Dick,  Cissie 
Allsopp,  and  the  artist's  own  e.x  libris.  Another 
for  Charles  Holme,  with  a  cleverly  drawn  figure  of 
a  poet  reciting  his  verses,  was  also  shown  at  the 
Westminster  Exhibition.  The  accomplishment 
shown  in  all  these  is  too  evident  to  need  any 
further  comment. 

Whether  Mr.  James  Cadenhead  has  designed 
many  ])lates  is  not  clear,  but  the  admirably  simple 
device  for  the  Scjttisli  Arts  Club,  here  reproduced, 
augurs  well  for  them  if  he  has.  The  space  is 
well  filled,  and  although  the  lettering  "  Ex  Libris  " 
is  needlessly  large,  and  not  satisfactory  in  itself, 
the  whole  plate  is  a  happy  and  pleasant  composi- 
tion. The  second  plate,  for  Charles  Martin  llardie, 
suffers  a  little  from  the  to|)  lettering. 

Mr.  J.  Walter  West,  some  short  time  ago,  with 
two  or  three  harmonious  compositions  of  figures 
and  foliage,  set  a  new  style  which  others  have  not 
been  slow  to  practice.  Nearly  all  his  designs  have 
already  appeared  in  The  Studio,  so  that  it  would 
be  superfluous  to  describe  any  more  fully.  They 
include  plates  for  E.  G.  Bells,  S.  Reynolds   Hole, 


BY  J.\MES   CADKMlKAl) 


cham  (three),  /('.  A.  Fiiichani,  Mary  Cunslancc 
Hall,  Sophie  Elizabeth  Hall,  Arthur  Hmmard, 
I'al  Longman,  T.  O.  MacDoivell,  Hugh  Giffin 
McKinncy,  Nathaniel  Micklein,  11 '.  T.  Mitchiil, 
George  M.  Mills  (two),  AUw.  Neale,  IV.  Nctiinegen 
(two),  F.  IV.  Oliver,  Mary  King  Roberts,  Charles 
IV.  Roe,  John  IV.  Sherwell,  H.  C.  Shuttleworth 
(two),  and  G.  W.  Pl-^ilson. 

Mr.  Laurence  Housman  has  done  a  most 
ingenious  plate  for  A.  W.  P[ollard],  which  the 
owner  consistently  refuses  to  allow  to  be  repro- 
duced ;  and  much  as  one  regrets  his  decision, 
one  can  but  admire  his  consistency  in  keeping  for 
his  own  enjoyment  a  thing  that  by  its  very  nature 
is  intended  for  private  personal  use.  Other  de- 
signs for  Hannah  Brace  and  Robert  and  Evelyn 
Benson  have  been  reproduced  elsewhere ;  a  com- 
paratively recent  design  for  Hubert  Bland  (page 
19)  has  not  been  reproduced  before.  Why  more 
people  do  not  endeavour  to  secure  designs  by 
Mr.  Housman  (cut  on  w-ood,  if  possible,  by  his 
sister)  is  a  mystery.  Perhaps  he  declines  com- 
missions, for  there  seems  no  other  logical  reason 
for  that  most  ingenious  and  accomplished 
draughtsman  being  represented  by  such  a  small 
20 


CDH^ieS'^KMe^BM^^ 


BY  JAMES   CADENHEAD 


M^r-ff'ttfr 


TWO  BOOK-PLATES 
BY  VV.  P.  NICHOLSON' 


r>, .:/:■/ 


A.  It  .  L.  /.  iJKiii 

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THE*SCOTT!SH*ARTS*CLVB 


liir  tliarles  li 

p.  pi)L-!  rt.-<  ^i'" 


lie  field, 
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Libris  " 


fs  MarltH  Hardie, 


rhnt»  n'lr,  ,  1     IV,  A.  Fincham,   Mary  ( 
i  '•  ■  lisabrth  Hall,  Arthur 


Mr. 


.:an   has  doiv 


.11    U.^f-. 

Robert  ■ 

! 

[  Ix-en  reproduced 

M..!  .i^i^cavour  to  . .  >.„. . 

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on  wood,  if  poss 

ble, 

by 

his 

^.HXAJL'I-XOOa'pV/T' 

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'!;.':.iL'nk.n!.ii.                     .  :St.-nted  1 

JO 

ExLibris  Phil  May 


'W<N't«9f 


Mr'rf»M$$r 


BritisJi  Book-plates 


BY  J.   J.    VVAUGH 


Beiijaiuiii  aud  Janet  Haiighton,  Edith  E.  Watcr- 
luw  (a  charming  exception  to  the  generally 
tasteless  portrait-plate),  Joannis  Watson,  J. 
Walter  West,  Charles  Bickersteth  Wheeler,  and 
E.  Lilian  Wise.  Nearly  all  are  in  outline,  with 
slight  shading,  and  as  a  rule  "  vignetted,"  that 
is,  not  enclosed  within  rectangular  borders. 

Although  Mr.  E.  H.  New  is  far  better  known 
from  his  illustrations  to  sumptuous  editions  of 
The  Compleat  Angler  and  Gilbert  White's  Sel- 
borne  than  as  a  designer  of  book-plates,  yet  he 
has  done  quite  a  fair  number,  some  of  which 
must  needs  be  ranked  very  highly.  On  all  the 
admirable  design  and  placing  of  the  lettering 
are  conspicuously  good ;  few,  if  any,  modern 
artists  are  more  worth  study  for  alphabets  and 
the  way  to  use  them.  The  decorative  treatment 
of  architecture  also  finds  expression  on  several 
plates,  notably  on  those  for  [/?<!'.]  Richard 
R.  Philpots,  River  House,  Hammersmith,  the 
front  of  a  fine  old  red-brick  building  adjoin- 
ing \\'illiam  Morris'  late  residence,  Kelmscott 
House,  and  others  for  C.  E.  Matthews  and 
Edmund  .Itkiiisnn.  A  panel  of  well-arranged 
lettering  with  an  ornamental  initial  and  tailpiece, 
for  Herbert  Neiv,  is  a  model  worth  imitation, 
except  that  its  excellent  simplicity  and  simple 
excellence  are  hard  to  paraphrase.     This  latter, 


as  well  as  a  fine  design  of  a  kneeling  knight  in 
armour,  for  Montague  Fordham,  and  one  with 
the  motto  "  Wondrous  indeed  is  the  virtue  of  a 
printed  book,"  for  Rees  Price,  were  cut  on  wood 
by  the  Birmingham  Guild  of  Handicraft.  A 
rather  curious  plate  of  a  "  primitive  "  hillside 
landscape,  surrounded  by  the  legend  "  Over  the 
margin,  after  it  follow  it,  follow  the  gleam," 
"  William  and  Katherine  Childs  their  book,"  must 
not  be  forgotten.  A  somewhat  stately  design, 
recalling  a  seventeenth- century  title-page,  for 
William  Malin  Roscoe,  is  a  good  example  of  Mr. 
New's  beautiful  lettering  and  his  fine  sense 
of  its  employment.  Other  plates  for  Edward 
Evershed  Dendy,  Edward  Morton,  Herbert  B. 
Pollard,  J.  G.  Gardner-Brown,  F.  Chapman 
(Mrs.),  B.  Alcock,  A.  Foivler,  "  i  Highbury 
Terrace,"  and  Mrs.  J.  Sharpe,  exhibit  his  inven- 
tion in  various  methods,  all  being  marked  by 
the  relation  of  their  design  to  a  printed  page, 
a  "  bookish"  quality  that  makes  them  especially 
fit  for  their  purpose. 

Mr.  W.  P.  Nicholson's  little  plate  for  himself, 
a  "  neo-primitive "  woodcut  of  a  tiny  beehive 
with  his  initials  at  the  side,  the  girl  with  a 
"  coster'ich "  feather  in  her  hat  for  Phil  May, 
and  the  coloured  design  for  W.  H.,  seem  to  be 


CX^^rrBRTS 


jJ^UiM^  18^ 


BY  J.    J.    WAVGH 


23 


British  Booh-plates 


the  only  three  he  has  done.  That  each,  in  a  way, 
is  typical  of  his  art  may  also  he  said  ;  although, 
remembering  his  later  triumphs,  i)erhaps  it  would 


BY  GORnoN  crak; 


BY   GORDON   CRAIC 


be  more  exact  to  say,  typical  of  his 
method. 

If  Mr.  Lewis  F.  Day  has  de- 
signed many  plates,  they  are  un- 
known to  collectors ;  indeed,  Mr. 
Fincham  does  not  include  a  single 
specimen.  That  for  Harold 
Gabriel  Morrish  is  a  pure  name- 
label,  with  clear  interwoven  letter- 
ing left  white,  and  a  motto,  "  Read- 
ing makes  a  full  man,"  against  a 
dotted  ground,  after  the  manner 
of  old  woodcuts.  It  is  such  a  very 
pleasant  example  of  its  kind  that  one  wishes  for 
more  by  the  same  hand. 

Mrs.  Percy  Dearmer,  with  designs  for  Millicent 
Faivcetl,  Marian  Alexander,  and  a  few  others,  shows 
the  same  regard  for  straightforward  simplicity  of 
treatment  that  characterised  her  illustrations  to 
IVymps.  If  the  book-plates  represent  her  less- 
matured  eflfort,  they  are  eloquent  in  promise,  now, 
as  we  all  know,  fulfilled. 

Mr.  Alfred  Parson's  charming  little  plate  for 
Austin  Dobson,  although  it  serves  for  a  vignette  in  a 
volume  of  poems,  must  not  be  overlooked  because 
it  has  done  double  duty.  Mr.  Fincham  also  credits 
him  with  a  signed  book-plate,  Gleeson  While,  but  I 
have  never  seen  or  heard  of  such  a  plate,  nor  do 
I  possess  one  "  signed  A.  P.  in  ligature,"  so  the 
mystery  must  remain  unexplained. 

Mr.    Hugh  Thomson,  the  legitimate  successor 
of  Randolph   Caldecott,  in   the  plate   for   Ernest 
24 


BroiL'n,  displays  the  sterling  qualities  which  have 
won  him  deserved  pojiularity. 

Mr.  F.  C.  Tilney  represents  to  many  the  ideal 
of  a  modern  designer,  and  certainly  if  minute 
detail,  excellently  wrought,  with  bookish  sympathy, 
are  the  chief  qualities,  he  exhibits  them  fully. 
But  the  very  elaborate  method  he  employs  seems 
rather  out  of  place  on  a  label,  and  somewhat 
defeats  its  own  end.  For  a  label  is  a  thing  not  in- 
tended for  minute  study,  but  to  fulfil  its  purpose  at 
a  glance.  His  designs  for  .-/.  Dilborimgli,  Geo.  H. 
Evans,  George  Kitchin,  Riiperl  Usi>.<ald  Smith,  and 
Thomas  J.  Wise,  have  been  reproduced  elsewhere. 
Mr.  Aymer  Vallance,  in  the  armorial  plates, 
shows  himself  a  loyal  disciple  of  the  best  traditions 
of  heraldry,  the  only  detail  which  seems  in- 
consistent being  the  use  of  "  tinctures  "  ;  but 
some  centuries  of  precedent  can  be  quoted  in 
their  support,  although  we  fancied  they  had  crept 
in  at  a  period  far  too  late  to  attract  Mr.  \\'illance's 
sympathy. 

A    few    compositions,  full  of  fancy  and  happy 
thoughts,  by  the  late  Mr.  Warrington  Hogg,  which 
have  been  reproduced  in  The  Studio  and  else- 
where, keep  green   the  memory  of  a  young  artist 
who  died   soon  after  his  talent  for 
black-and-white   had  begun   to   find 
expression.     Some   eight    only   are 
known  :  for  A.  G.  and  N.  Bell,  Edwin 
Buckman,  E.  Granville  Hogg,   War- 
rington   Hogg,      Winson     Ramsay, 
M.D.,  AgnesJ.  Rydd,  Levcson  Scarlh, 
and  Gleeson  Il'hite. 

Miss   Violet   M.    Holden,  some- 
time of  the   Hirmin^ham  School  of 


BY    GOKUO.N    crak; 


Art,  has  done  several  plates  :  one,  for  Edith  Good- 
man, has  been  reproduced  in  The  Studio. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Hooper,  the  well-known  engraver 


British  Book-plates 


BY   C.    F.    A.    VOYSEY 


on  wood,  has  designed  a  fair  number  of  plates, 
which  are  justly  prized  by  collectors,  a  very  quaint 
"  gallows'-tree  "  design  for  Andrew  White  Titer,  and 
one  for  Charles  Keene  (it  is  said),  being  most 
familiar. 

Mr.  Robert  Hope,  of  Edinburgh,  on  a  plate  for 
a  well-known  expert — George  Clulovj — shows  a 
portrait  of  the  owner  seated  in  a  cosy  corner  sur- 
rounded by  books  and  bric-a-brac ;  another,  for 
James  H.  Anitandale,  is  by  the  same  hand. 

Mr.  Gordon  Craig,  in  his  unique  monthly 
magazine.  The  Page,  has  issued  many  impressions 
of  original  book-plates  designed  and  cut  on  wood 
by  himself.  They  fulfil  the  purpose  of  a  label  so 
simply  and  directly  that  one  is  tempted  to  value 
them  even  above  their  genuine  worth,  which  is  by 
no  means  slight.  It  would  seem  that  Mr.  Gordon 
Craig,  almost  alone  among  modern  designers,  has 
recognised  that  a  simple  device  is  more  suitable 
than  an  elaborate  design.  The  ex  libris  for  his 
mother,  Ellen  Terry,  with  a  little  map,  a  circular 
wreathed  plate  (unnamed),  others  for  Martin 
Shaw,  Miss  Norman,  Miss  Edith  Craig,  Miss  Luc} 
Wilson,  "  R.  C,"  and  a  design  of  a  ship,  have 
appeared  in  The  Page,  and  here  we  reproduce 
three  more,  G.  C,  Edy,  and  fames  Pryde,  equally 
typical  and  delightfully  appropriate. 

Mr.  C.  M.  Gere,  another  of  the  Birmingham 
School,    has    few   standing   against  his    name;    a 


fact  to  be  regretted,  since  those  for  E.  H.  New 
and  A.  V.  Paton  (both  illustrated  in  Castle's  English 
Book-plates)  are  distinguished  by  an  ordered  sim- 
plicity which  is  rare  in  all  decoration,  and  especially 
on  ex  libris. 

The  few  plates  by  Miss  Kate  Greenaway  have 
all  been  reproduced  before.  Four  are  for  different 
members  of  the  Locker-Lampson  family,  and  the 
fifth  and  least  known,  for  Sarah  Nickson.  One,  a 
simple  inscription  with  an  ornamental  border,  is 
an  excellent  example  of  a  pure  label,  so  prettily 
designed  that  it  is  worth  a  hundred  more  elaborate 
compositions. 

Mr.  E.  Slocombe,  R.E.,  does  not  appear  in 
Mr.  Fincham's  very  careful,  if  not  exhaustive 
list,  but'at  least  an  etched  plate  for  Ethel  Selina 
Cliilow  is  proof  that  the  skill  we  appreciate  in 
other  fields  of  art  has  found  expression  in  an  ex 
libris. 

Possibly  an  unique  example  of  a  book-plate  by 
Simeon  Solomon  is  familiar  to  many  who  are  not 
aware  that  it  was  designed  especially  for  Mr.  Oscar 
Browning,    as,  almost    .ilone   am.ong    "  pictorial  " 


BY   C.    K.    .\.    VOVSEY 


25 


BritisJi  Book-plates 


plates,  it  bears  neither  the  initials  nor  the  mono- 
gram, much  less  the  name,  of  its  owner. 

Mr.  C.  F.  A.  Voysey,  as  we  might  expect,  obeys 
the  limits  of  a  label,  and  creates  a  "  device  " 
rather  than  a  picture.  In  his  own  book-plate 
and  those  for  King  Alfred's  School  and  Charles 
Sleivarl King,  reproduced  on  page  25,  we  find  sim- 
plicity of  form,  bold  lettering,  and  the  label-like 
quality  that  satisfies  the  theory  of  an  ideal  plate. 
Of  course  there  are  many  ideals,  and  it  is  open 
to  each  person  to  choose  or  invent  his  own. 
But  certainly  Mr.  Voysey  has  grasped  the  essen- 
tials of  one  well-considered  ideal. 

At  least  one  book-plate  design  was  prepared 
by  the  late  Sir  E.  Burnc-Jones ;  it  was  even 
engraved,  but  whether  copies  have  ever  been 
printed  seems  doubtful.  Certainly  no  collector 
has  yet  been  able  to  show  an  example,  and  the 
lady  who  owns  it  has  never  lent  a  copy  to  any 
exhibition. 


BY    D.    V.    CAMERON 


36 


BY    D.    Y.    CAMERON 


Mr.  Selwyn  Image  has  never  designed  a  book- 
plate, a  fact  so  surprising,  considering  that  his 
art  would  surely  find  sympathetic  expression 
therein,  that  if  he  were  passed  over  in  silence 
it  might  be  misleading. 

The  one  design,  so  far  as  collectors  know, 
which  the  late  Sir  John  Millais  executed  (for 
Sir  Christopher  Tatton  Sykes),  is  so  fine  that  it 
arouses  regrets  that  the  great  illustrator  never 
executed  other  book-plates.  The  decorative 
feeling  is  admirable  :  it  is  essentially  a  label,  with 
a  coat-of-arms  on  a  triangular  shield,  partly 
covering  an  oval  panel,  wherein  appears  St. 
Christopher  bearing  the  Holy  Child.  Young 
students,  led  away  by  the  affectation  of  the 
moment,  should  return  to  this  little  masterpiece, 
and  take  its  lessons  to  heart.  It  shows  that 
a  great  artist  can  ennoble  a  label,  and  yet  keep 
it  strictly  within  its  utilitarian  limits. 

Mr.  Thomas  Graham  Jackson,  R.A.,  has  done 
some  few  ex  libris,  one  of  which,  Alicice  Marice 
Jackson,  is  illustrated  in  Miss  Labouchere's 
monograph.  Others  are  for  Caroli  Thomce 
Arnold,  Collegium  Brighloniense,  Thomce  Gra- 
ham Jackson,  Alex.  Waldcmar  Laivrence,  An.  yEl. 
21,    18  Male    1895   ('1^^   record  of   age    is   so 


British  Book-plates 


unusual  that  the  inscription  is  worth  quoting  in 
full),  Caroli  Laiicdoiti  Shnd-McU,  and  Collegii 
Wadhaiiti  in  Acad.  Oxoii.,  are  duly  recorded  by 
Mr.  Fincham. 

Miss  Celia  Levetus,  who  is  the  most  fertile  of 
lady  designers  of  book-plates,  uses  a  thick  bold 
line  with  considerable  felicity.  Indeed,  for  their 
"  colour  "  alone,  they  deserve  a  very  high  place, 
but  they  hardly  escape  the  charge  of  reiterating 
the  rather  too  common  motive  of  a  figure  read- 
ing —  appropriate,  but  tedious  after  a  certain 
time.  The  very  successful  ex  libris  for  Florence 
Levetus  is  a  model  of  its  kind,  and  a  very  pretty 
kind  it  is.  Others  for  Jennie  Cohen,  Daisy  Levetus, 
John  B.  Treadivell,  Reginald  Grundy,  Joe  Bur- 
roughs, Violet  Holden,  Edward  R.  Taylor,  Nelly 
H.  Taylor,  Edith  Mason,  Joseph  Henry  Wilkin- 
son, John  S.  Nettle/old,  and  Margaret  Robertson, 
are  described,  and  many  illustrated  in  the  Ex 
Libris  Journal,  August  1897,  together  with  an 
appreciative  article  on  the  artist. 

One  had  hoped  that  a  book-plate  for  the 
Architectural  Association  (1889),  by  Mr.  W.  R. 
Lethaby,  would  be  the  precursor  of  a  notable 
series ;  yet,  with  the  exception  of  another  for 
the  Labour  Department,  Board  of  Trade  Library, 
we  still  wait  further  examples  of  Mr.  Lethaby's 
taste  and  invention  in  this  connection. 


'1*1 


PICKEraNG. 


EL^^j 


ARUYE. 

^ANNO 


-•''   J  J- 


BY   D.    V.    CA.MEROX 


BY    I),    v.    CAMERON 


Mr.  H.  Stacy  Marks  made  a  large  number 
(Mr.  Fincham  records  forty-five  examples)  of 
pleasant  black-and-white  drawings,  some  of 
which,  by  the  addition  of  the  owner's  name 
below,  became  orthodox  cv  libris,  while  others 
are  more  essentially  book-plates.  As  designs 
they  are  of  varied  e.xcellence.  A  famous  one, 
for  Frederic  Locker,  another  for  T.  J.  Barralt, 
and  the  artist's  own  plate,  are  admirable  ex- 
amples of  their  class.  But  no  few  of  the  rest, 
whether  of  a  reading  figure  or  not,  are  only 
pictures  made  to  pass  as  book-plates.  This  in 
no  way  weakens  their  artistic  interest,  but  it 
removes  them  to  some  extent  from  our  consider- 
ation here.  The  genial  raconteur,  in  his  inter- 
esting "  Pen-and-ink  Sketches"  (2  vols.  1894), 
devotes  his  last  chapter  to  ex  libris,  and  rates 
the  Ex  Libris  Journal  on  its  illustrations,  implor- 
ing it  "  to  cultivate  a  better  taste  by  giving 
examples  which  have  something  more  to  recom- 
mend them  than  the  piles  of  books,  defiant  of 
the  laws  of  perspective,  or  the  ill-drawn  armorial 
coats    devoid    of    composition    or    decorative 

27 


Rrifisli  Book-plates 


ItV    A.    K.    WOMRATIl 


its  own.  l?ut,  considered  wholly  as  designs,  they 
are  at  once  new  and  super-excellent,  with  well- 
drawn  lettering  taking  its  due  importance  in  the 
scheme.  Impressions  from  the  plates  for  Joanna 
(aiiieroii  and  Katlieriiic  Cameron  were gw'zn  in  Miss 
i.abouchere's  "Ladies'  ]5ook-platcs";  other  designs, 
in  the  same  admirable  manner,  are  for  /.  Craig 
.Innan,  Janus  Arthur,  Jeanie  Ure  Madaurin,  James 
I.  Maclehuuse,  Robert  M.  Mann,  John  Maclaren, 
Robert  G.  Paterson,  R.  Y.  Pickering,  James  Henry 
Todd,  and  John  Macartney  Wilson.  They  are 
among  the  rarest  plates  in  modern  collections,  and 


feeling,  we  see  so  often  in  its  pages."  He  also  tells 
us  he  kept  a  folio,  labelled  the  Duslhole,  in  which 
to  deposit  many  of  the  specimens  sent  him  "  in 
exchange  ;  "  for  he  was  a  keen  collector.  Indeed, 
after  reading  this  chapter  again,  with  its  reproduc- 
tion of  his  own  plate — Death,  a  skeleton  in  jester's 
costume,  studying  a  shield  bearing  the  monogram 
H.  S.  M. — which  he  says  represents  "  Death  grin- 
ning at  the  vanity  of  the  painter  in  supposing  that 
his  name  would  be  remembered  by  posterity,"  one 
feels  inclined  to  own  that  the  idea  of  an  e.x  libris, 
as  he  conceived  it,  is  both  consistent  and  pleasant, 
even  if  it  approaches  a  picture  more  closely  than 
seems  desirable  to  us. 

Mr.  Phil  May  has  made  a  design,  used  as  one 
of  Mr.  Clement  Shorter's  c.\  libris;  but,  if  memory 
may  be  trusted,  it  appeared  first  as  a  picture, 
therefore  is  only  technically  a  book-plate  ;  although 
its  subject,  a  group  of  monks  poring  over  the 
facetious  works  of  Master  Francois  Rabelais,  is 
apt  and  mirth -provoking. 

The  etched  plates  by  Mr.  D.  Y.  Cameron 
occupy  a  uniijue  position  among  modern  ex  libris. 
No  other  worker  has  developed  the  peculiar  quality 
of  the  etched  line  so  superbly  on  a  thing  so 
trifling  and  ephemeral.  Reproductions,  however, 
fail  to  convey  fully  the  actual  beauty  of  the  original 
impressions,  where  retroussage   adds    a   charm  of 

38 


BY    A.    K.    WOMRAIH 


British  Book-plates 


BY    WALTER    I..    EMANUEI. 


also   among  the  best,  a  combination 
often  found. 

Mr.  A.  Garth  Jones, 
a  young  artist  of  very 
strong  individuality, 
whose  work  is  frequent 
in  the  Revue  lUustrce  and 
the  Quartier  Latin,  and 
makes  his  first  appearance 
this  year  in  book  form 
with  some  illustrations 
for  poetry,  has  done 
several  ex  libris.  The 
one  for  G.  Oliver  Onions 
is  an  excellent  type  of 
Mr.  Jones'  admirable  use 
of  the  pen-line,  and  also 
reveals  his  contempt  for 
"  pretty  faces,"  which  at 
times  he  carries  a  little 
too  far.  To  say  that 
the  vigour  of  his  design 
suggests  old  German 
woodcuts  is  true,  but  as 
regards  their  invention, 
he  is  singularly  free  from 
the  influence  of  past  or 
present  artists. 

A  pleasant  if  rather 
crowded  design  for  T. 
Empc  (or  Tcnipe),  by  E. 
A.  Lindsey,  appears  to 
be  a  solitary  e.xample  of 
the  artist's  efforts  in  this 
direction. 


by  no 


Mr.  \V.  R.  Kean's  designs  are  limited  to  plates 
for  Francis  Edwin  Murray  (1893)  and  /.  Lea,  at 
any  rate  no  others  from  his  hand  have  come  to 
light  during  the  hunt  for  material  to  be  used  in 
the  present  list. 

William  Monk,  R.E.,  has  done  several  etched 
plates,  distinctly  unhackneyed  in  conception,  and 
entirely  fitted  for  their  purpose.  Three  of  these 
bear  his  own  name,  others  are  for  Charles  Gatehouse, 
Blanche  Hoskyns,  the  Shakespeare  Memorial  Library y 
and  the  Clerkenivell  Public  Library.  An  "  un- 
named "  design  has  also  been  exhibited. 

Of  all  artists  who  have  done  book-labels  of  high 
merit  few  excel  Mr.  H.  P.  Home.  His  device 
for  the  Constitutional  Club  is  the  most  perfect 
of  its  kind,  his  delightful  roundel  for  Fred 
Trehawk  Davies  a  thing  of  perpetual  delight,  and 
the  little  initial  "  H  "  plate,  with  its  motto,  "  Here's 
the  book  I  sought  for  so,"  the  ideal  of  simplicity 
controlled  by  art.  Yet  Mr.  Fincham  seems  to  have 
overlooked  these  most  admirable  examples  in  his 
list,  although  all  these  were  reproduced  in  an  early 
number  of  The  Studio.  Certain  eminent  col- 
lectors have  looked  askance  at  them,  preferring 
a  feeble  mixture  of  symbol  and  pictures  of  no 
value  as  design  or  idea,  and  the  Constitutional  Club 
plate,  which  experts  of  design  never  tire  of  praising, 
was  thrown  discarded,  as  not  up  to  the  level,  from 


SKIiTCn    FOR   A   BOOK-rLATE 


BY    ROBERr   HALLS 
29 


Bn'fis/i  Book-plates 


CLircon   LODC^t"^  ^ 
L  li;AnPut>No  is 


BV   J.    1>, 


a  selection  of  the  best  modern  plates  made  by  a 
prominent  authority.  A  fact  like  this  tempts  one 
to  censure  the  average  collector  even  more  for 
his  sins  of  omission  and  lack  of  appreciation  than 
for  his  fondness  for  the  trivial  second  and  third 
best. 

Mr.  A.  Kay  Womrath,  although  born  in  the 
United  States,  is  so  well  known  on  this  side  that 
we  may  claim  him  as  we  claim  Mr.  Sargent  and 
Mr.  Abbey.  He  has  had  the  unique  honour  of  a 
one  man  show  of  book-plates  in  New  York,  where 
he  exhibited  twelve  e.xamples.  It  is  true  that 
other  drawings  are  also  in  the  catalogue  ;  but  here 
they  take  second  place.  Several  of  his  designs 
have  already  appeared  in  The  Studio,  and  others 
are  now  reproduced  for  the  first  time.  Among 
his  plates  are  those  for  Lady  Ckmentine  l\'cils,h, 
the  Hon.  Arthur  Walsh,  the  Hou.  Claude  Hay, 
Martha  Thompson,  E.  Therese  Beyer,  Marie  Clausen, 
Edith  Brown,  Marion  Lawrence,  Miss  Dickinson, 
Dr.  Leonard  N.  Robinson,  A.  K.  Womrath,  Fred 
G.  Yuengling,  Helen  and  Georgina  Wollsen. 

A  fine  plate  for  the  Chief  Rabbi,  Dr.  Adler, 
already  reproduced  in  The  Studio  (June  1S96), 
and  another  here  illustrated  by  Mr.  Frank 
30 


I'^nianuel,  are  among  the  few  ex  libris  a  well-known 
painter  and  illustrator  has  executed.  His  brother, 
Mr.  Walter  Emanuel,  has  also  designed  several 
plates,  one  of  which  (his  own)  is  here  reproduced, 
a  design  that  seems  especially  adapted  for  photo- 
gravure. The  Jester's  figure  is  not  out  of  place 
for  the  cv  libris  of  a  writer  whose  witty  and  hu- 
morous articles  are  continually  delighting  people 
in  the  best  of  our  current  journals. 

Mr.  Charles  Ricketts'  cv  libris,  Gleeson  White, 
cut  on  wood  by  the  designer,  is  possibly  his  only 
contribution  to  the  subject  in  hand,  unless  a  de- 
sign prepared  for  the  late  Lord  de  Tabley  was  ever 
carried  out.  Here  one  may  not  even  repeat  the 
many  appreciations  the  first-named  engraving  of 
the  Yggdrasil  has  called  forth  on  Ijoth  sides  of 
the  Atlantic,  nor  even  echo  an  often-expressed 
opinion  that  it  is  the  finest  "  symliolical  "  design 
of  modern  c.v  libris. 


EX  LIBR.1S 


EDMVND  RATHBONE 


BY    K.    .V.N.NIM;    Blil.L 


I» 


'    >..J.l     k.     X 


"^ 


-xy\\- 


NT 


l/l- 


^^ 


VI 


..EX   L1BR_1S 
CI^OY-  GRAMMQNT,^ 


^^ 


1:7 


L,^y^^ 


BY  R.   ANNING   BELL 


British  Book-plates 


liY    K.    nKNi;Ol'('.II    RIc-KKITS 


Mr.  Robert  Halls,  so  far,  has  only  been  known 
by  one — a  design  for  Herbert  Drew — a  grotesquely 
weird  nude  baby  peeping  over  a  pile  of  books ; 
but  a  study  for  another,  here  reproduced,  may  be 
evidence  that  he  intends  to  enter  the  field  in 
earnest. 

Mr.  T.  R.  \\'ay,  whose  lithographs  of  Old 
London  and  the  Thames  are  well  known,  has 
drawn  a  few  plates  on  the  stone  which  betray  not 
only  his  mastery  of  the  craft,  but  also  a  pretty  and 
ingenious  fancy.  The\  include  designs  for  T.  II., 
A.  Lasnnis,  Louisa  Adelaide  Way,  Henry  Edn'ard 
Morgan,  Mary  Helen  Way,  Eleanor  Gertrude  Cross, 
Frederick  Palmer,  Arthur  Thomas  iVay,  Olive  Cox, 
and  T.  R.  Way. 

Mr.  J.  I).  Batten  was  one  of  the  earliest  of  our 
younger  illustrators  to  take  an  interest  in  the 
ex  libris.  Several  of  his  designs  have  been  repro- 
duced in  Castle's  "  English  Book-plates."  One  of 
the  first,  ex  libris  Thornhurst,  bears  a  facsimile 
of  its  owner's  autograph  below.  Joseph  Tanner  is 
dated  1887,  and  a  circular  device  dated  1889  bears 
a  blank  place  presumably  intended  for  the  owner's 
signature  [Money  Coutts].  He  has  also  designed 
32 


a  beautiful  photogravure  plate  for  //.  B.  Tail 
(1892);  another  by  the  same  process;  and  an 
admiral)le  heraldic  composition  with  the  legend 
"  Ex  libris  Michaelis  J'otnkinson,  Franclic  Halt, 
Worcestershire."  Plates  for  H.  Morley  Fleliher, 
Crege  Johannis  Piatt,  R.  H.  Porter,  Percii'al  Smith, 
H.  B.  Tail  {iS8-j),  Jambi  B.  Winterbotham  (1886), 
are  also  recorded  in  Mr.  H.  W.  l^'incham's  catalogue. 
All  the  above  show,  as  might  be  expected,  no  little 
of  the  artistic  charm  which  marks  Mr.  Batten's 
work,  while  the  "  'J'ait  "  (1892)  design  is  ([uite  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  of  modern  plates. 

Mr.  Alan  Wright  seems  to  have  been  devoting 
his  attention  to  other  illustrations  of  late.  Yet  his 
early  designs  are  well  known  and  prized  by  collectors 
of  modern  plates,  for  their  fancy  as  well  as  for  their 
art.  The  plates  known  to  collectors  include 
examples  for  himself,  a  tiny  monogram  he  uses  as 
his  signature  on  drawings,  for  Ranken  Ellis,  Emily 
Coldwell,  H.  A.  Wright,  Marion  L.  Leigh,  James 
Ransome  Corder,  Fred.  E.  Wright,  A.  G.  Wright 
(two),   Florence  Campbell,  Ethel  M.  Boyce,   Richard 


UV   li.    liE.NGOL'OH   klCKEITS 


Bi'itisJi    Book-plates 


in  the  front  rank,  interna- 
tionally as  well  as  locally. 
When  the  first  speci- 
mens of  his  book-plates 
were  published  in  an  early 
number  of  The  Studio, 
he  had  executed  but  a 
few  for  personal  friends  ; 
his  first  commission  being 
the  characteristic  design 
for  George  Ravenscroft 
Deimis,  therein  repro- 
duced. In  place  of  de- 
scribing each  —  or  even 
the  best — of  his  fifty-two 
executed  designs,  it  may 
be  well  to  give  a  brief  list 
of  their  owners'  names  : 
I,  Walter  George  Bell;  2, 
Rainald  William  Knight- 
ley  Goddard ;  3,  G.  R. 
Dennis  ;  4,  Barry  Eric 
Odell  Pain  ;  5,  Jane  Pat- 
terson (circular)  ;  6,  Jane 
Patterson  (rect.) ;  7,  C/tris- 
tabel  A.  Franipton ;  8, 
Frederick  Brown  ;  9,  Matt. 
Gossett  (reproduced  in  the 
"Yellow  Book,"  vol.  i.); 


BY   E.    BENGOUGH    RICKETTS 


Le  Gallienne,  John  Lane, 
C.  P.  Kains  -Jackson, 
Arthur  Silver,  Gleeson 
White  (four),  A.  Gertrude 
Orchard,  and  L.  T.  Meade. 
Mr.  R.  Anning  Bell, 
who  so  nearly  takes  the 
first  place  in  alphabetical 
order,  might  be  granted 
it  here,  in  view  not 
merely  of  the  quality,  but 
also  of  the  quantity,  of 
his  designs,  the  latest  to 
hand  bearing  LIII.  as 
its  opus  number.  Con- 
sidered as  a  whole,  their 
high  merit  entitles  them 
to  their  deserved  popu- 
larity with  artists  and  the 
best  class  of  collectors. 
Without  saying  that  no 
design  by  any  other  artist 
is  better  than  certain  of 
Mr.  Anning  Bell's,  which 
would  be  both  a  foolish 
and  ungracious  com- 
parison, it  is  certain  that 
his  work  stands  absolutely 


BY    E.    BENGOUGH    RlCKETrS 


33 


British  Book-plates 


10,  Arthur  Trevithiii  Nowell ;  ii,  Edivard  Priolean 
Warren;  12,  Frederic  Leighloii  (small);  13, 
Frederic  Leighton  (large);  14,  Arthur  Melbourne 
Sutlhery;  15,  Juliet  Caroline  Fox  Pym ;  16, 
Yolande  Sylvia  Nina  Xoble  Pym  /  1 7,  Florence  and 
IVilliani  Parkinson ;  18,  Nora  Beatrice  Dicksee  ; 
19,  Felsled  School;  20,  Arthur  E.  Bartlctl ;  21, 
The  Hon.  Mabel  de  Grey ;  22,  Geraldine,  Countess 
0/ Mayo;  23,  Waller  E.  Lloyd ;  24  and  25,  William 
George  Benjamin  Bullock-Barker ;  26,  Thomas 
Elsley;  2-j ,  University  College,  Liverpool ;  28,  Noivland 
Plunibe  ;  29,  Rennell  Rodd ;  30,  Alicia,  Lady 
Clamis  ;  31,  H.  E.John  Broivne ;  32,  Barham 
House  ;  3^,  Cecil  Rhodes;  34,  Marnier  Bros.  ;  35, 
Hon.  Harriet  Bortlmnck ;  36,  Beatrice  Patterson; 
37,  H'alter  Drezv ;  ^8,  Walter  Raleigh  ;  39,  Thc'odule, 
Comte  de  Granimont ;  40,  Joshua  Sing;  41,  Alice 
Emma  Wilkinson;  .^2,JamesEasterbrook;  Hector 
Monroe  ;  43,  Theodore  Mandcr  ;  44,  Jl'.  H.  Booth  ; 
45,  Philip  Rathbone  ;  46,  Margaret  Wilton;  47, 
"  L.  and  M.  S." ;  48,  Gardner  S.  Basley ;  49,  ^.v 
Libris  Sodalium  Academicorum  APl'D  LYRPl'L; 
50,  Roberti  A.  S.  Macjie ;  51,  Richard  T.  Beckett; 
52,  Edmund  Rathbone  ;  53,  Croy-Grammont. 

It  would  be  superfluous  to  analyse  the  real 
beauty  of  Mr.  R.  Anning  Bell's  book-plates  to 
a  present-day  audience;  every  one  interested  in 


36 


UY    E.    UENGOUGH    RICKETTS 


BY    H.    NELSON 


decorative  art  knows  at  least  some  of  them. 
Not  long  since  a  great  French  artist,  looking 
over  a  collection  of  modern  English  designs, 
passed  all  without  comment  until  he  came  to 
those  by  Mr.  Anning  Bell;  but  then  his  appre- 
ciation ^vas  boundless:  he  declared  that  they 
were  little  masterpieces  inspired  veritably  by  the 
marbles  of  the  Parthenon,  and  ag.iin  and  again 
turned  back  to  them  to  discover  new  beauties, 
i'his  spontaneous  appreciation  from  an  artist 
whose  fame  is  world-wide  may  be  offered  in 
[ilace  of  an  attempt  to  describe  anew  their  real 
beauty. 

Major  E.  Bengough  Ricketts  is,  one  fancies, 
the  only  officer  in  her  Majesty's  services  who 
can  be  claimed  as  a  book-plate  designer,  or  if 
that  claim  prove  baseless,  it  is  safe  to  assert  that 
he  is  by  far  the  most  prolific.  The  amazing 
luxuriance  of  detail  he  employs  with  a  very  defi- 
nite expression  is  in  itself  notable  ;  and  that 
some  of  the  designs  take  a  very  honourable  place 


British  Book-plates 


considered  solely  on  their  other  merits  is  patent 
enough  to  those  who  have  the  good  fortune  to 
know  the  whole  number,  which  includes  elaborate 
and  finely  finished  ex  libris  for  H.  H.  House, 
Sir  Maurice  IVilliams,  Constance  Jelf-Sliarp,  \Mrs.^ 
Pegon,  [^Iiss'\  Graham,  \^Iiss'\  Stiirge,  \Miss\ 
Harris,  H.  W.  Fincham,  Col.  Hill,  K.  Bengoiigh 
Ricketls  (two),  Ernest  Hale,  [Aliss"]  Johnston,  [M/ss] 
M.  Johnston,  August,  Alvers,  E.  Heller,  ^Miss\ 
Cook,  Jean  de  Bonnefoii  de  Puyvardier,  Canon  Ella- 
combe,  Julian  Marshall,  R.  G.  de  Uphaugh,  Rev.  F. 
Watkins,  Rose  Jelf-Sharp,  Charles  Homer  "  Cul- 
pepper" the  Graf  von  Leiningen-Westerburg,  Charles 
Hoskins,  and  plates  specially  designed  for  musical 
works,  for  H.  M.  Sturge,  K.  Bengough  Ricketls, 
and  [yWssl  Johnston. 

Miss  Marian   Reid,  a  prize-winner  in  an  early 


ETX-LiBRIS' 


L 


ANNIE 
REYNOIPS£"Ie:PHE!MS 


SKETCH    FOR   A    BOOK-1'LATE 


BY    W.    REYNOLDS   STEPHENS 


Studio  competition,  with  a  design  for  a  plate, 
since  reproduced  by  photogravure  for  Herbert 
Denison,  has  designed  several  other  plates  for 
Marian  Reid,  Julian  Cameron  Reid,  Alison  John- 
stone, and  Alexandra  Grace  White  (the  last  four 
being  illustrated  in  Miss  Labouchere's  "  Ladies' 
Book-plates  "). 

Mr.  Gordon  Browne,  with  all  his  thousands  of 
delightful  pictures  for  children's  books,  so  far  as 
authorities  report,  has  done  but  one  book-plate, 
that  for  Henry  Folkard,  illustrated  in  Egerton 
Castle's  "English  Book-plates."  It  is  a  device  of  a 
goblet  supported  by  caryatides,  with  a  book,  a  pair 
of  spectacles,  and  a  rose  behind  it. 

Mr.  Oliver  Brackett,  in  a  charming  woodcut  for 

Walter  H.  Brackett,  and  a  few  other  unpublished 

designs,     shows    admirable    grasp    of    decorative 

principles,   so  that  it  is  a  matter  of 

surprise  not  to  find  more  examples 

of  his  design. 

Mr.  L.  Leslie  Brooke,  chiefly 
known  as  an  illustrator  of  children's 
books  (although  a  fine  portrait  of 
Mr.  J.  yi.  Barrie,  published  in  The 
Studio  some  time  since,  shows  that 
he  works  in  other  ways),  has  done 
a  few  verj'  graceful  and  delicate  ex 
libris.  Those  for  Stop  ford  August  i 
Brook,  Henry  Fisher  Cox,  and  Arthur 
Somervell  figure  in  Castle's  "  English 
Book-plates."  One  for  Godfrey  Allan 
Solly,  a  view — mountain  peak  against 
the  sky — has  not  been  reproduced, 
owing  possibly  to  the  delicacy  of  its 
detail ;  like  the  others,  it  is  dis- 
tinguished by  beautiful  and  consis- 
tent inscriptions,  and  the  use  of 
clean-cut  alphabets  rightly  placed. 

Mr.  G.  R.  Halkett,  whose  political 
cartoons  brighten  the  sparkling  "  Oc- 
casional Notes"  of  the  Pall  Mall 
Gazette,  did  many  book-plates  a  few 
years  ago,  some  being  extremely 
happy  both  in  invention  and  e.xecu- 
tion.  Among  them  are  ex  libris  for 
Thomas  Brayshaw,  Jacobus  Bromley, 
Francisci  C.  Bcddard,  W.  R.  Mac- 
donald,  Johannis  M.  Gray,  and 
William  A.  Cotton.  The  fashion  of 
Latinising  British  names,  which  Mr. 
Halkett  follows,  has  precedent  to 
support  it,  but  it  is  too  suggestive 
of  botanical  specimens  to  commend 
itself  to  all  tastes,  despite  the  mass 
of  ancient  usage  in  its  favour. 

Mr.  Harold  Nelson,  owing  to  his 
special  knowledge  of  heraldic  engrav- 
ing on  metal,  is  by  force  of  circum- 
stances peculiarly  well  equipped  for 
the  task  of  designing  book-plates. 
Vet  on  many  of  his  plates  armorial 

37 


! 


A 


British  Book-plates 


bearings  take  but  a  secondary  place.  'J'o  a  very 
keen  sense  of  the  value  of  reticence  in  decor- 
ation, and  a  pure  line,  not  unemotional  though 
clean  cut  and  virile,  he  adds  fancy  and  a  sense  of 
beauty,  especially  in  his  later  work.  Among  his 
plates  the  best  is,  perhaps,  the  design  in  gold  and 
black  here  reproduced  in  its  full  size.  Early  and 
not  fully  matured  ex  libris  for  Mary'  L.  Uldficid, 
Ellen  Magiiirc,  and  Harold  E.  Nelson  do  not  reveal 
his  full  power,  but  with  those  for  Edivard  Lnmax, 
Ernest  ScotI  Fardell,  M.A.  (two  designs),  Geoffery 
Parkyn,  we  have  good  examples  of  heraldry  as  a 
subordinate   feature  of  the  composition.     Others 


HRTMVR 
I  ^JESSIE 


38 


IIV    H.    WILSON 


I)V    H.    OSI'OVAT 


are  for  R.  II.  Sniii/i,  A.  Ludloiv  (a  beautiful 
armorial  \)\a.\.e),  James  Wiliiiar,  and  Bedford  College 
Library. 

Of  Mr.  C.  W.  Sherborn's  engraved  plates, 
Mr.  Fincham  records  no  fewer  than  two  hundred 
and  sixteen.  Even  a  precis  of  such  a  huge  list  is 
impossible  here.  As  examples  of  a  dying  craft, 
tlie  art  of  engraving  on  copper,  they  are  not  only 
as  fine  as  anything  done  in  its  prime,  but  in  their 
way  are  very  admirable  works  of  art.  They  are 
all  more  or  less  based  on  precedent,  and  show 
no  trace  of  the  newer  movement  in  decoration. 
Hence,   while  awarding    them  a  full  measure  of 


British  Book-plates 


praise,  and  owning  freely  their  right  to  the  [)lace 
universally  accorded,  it  must  be  owned  that,  had 
it  been  possible  to  reproduce  several,  they  would 
have  appeared  somewhat  out  of  touch  with  the  rest. 
Perhaps  that  may  be  claimed  as  their  highest 
virtue  ;  in  any  case,  most  generous  and  unstinted 
admiration  is  their  due.  The  "  Little  Master  "  of 
Chelsea  is  too  good  an  artist  to  refuse  to  allow 
many  ideals  of  beauty  and  many  different  forms  of 
expressing  it.  From  the  tiny  corner  he  has  made 
his  own,  his  fame  has  spread  over  two  hemispheres, 
and  those  who  know  him  couple  the  man  with 
the  work  in  awarding  him  their  respect. 

A    study    for    a    book-plate     by   W.    Reynolds 
Stephens,   here  reproduced,  is  probably  the  first 
attempt  of  a  notable  craftsman  to  express  its  idea. 
The  novel  arrangement  of  figures,  the  allusion  to 
the   essentially   feminine   arts  of  music   and   cm- 
broidery,  are  in  keeping, 
and  if  we  choose  to  regard 
the    figures    as    typifying 
song   or   poetry,  and  ap- 
plied art  or  prose,  we  shall 
probably  not  go  very  far 
wrong. 

How  many  ex  libris  Mr. 
Byam  Shaw  has  designed 
is  not  easy  to  determine  ; 
one  for  C.  E.  Pyke-Notl 
may  not  be  alone  in 
representing  his  earlier 
efforts.  Others,  for  Isa- 
bella R.  Hunter,  F.  Lynn 
Jenkins  (here  reproduced), 
and  Laurence  Koc,  and  a 
late  one  for  Mr.  Claye,  can 
be  safely  attributed  to  him. 
Like  many  younger  men, 
he  has  possibly  given 
designs  to  friends  which 
he  is  not  anxious  to  have 
brought  into  publicity. 
Yet  his  ingenuity  and 
power  are  too  widely 
recognised  at  their  right- 
ful value  for  his  reputa- 
tion to  suffer  even  if  scores 
of  boyish  works  were  un- 
earthed and  set  up  for  all 
the  world  to  see.  In  the 
composition  illustrated, 
we  find  the  same  fresh- 
ness of  arrangement  and 
delightful  technique  that 
mark  all  he  does. 

Mr.  H.  Granville  Fell, 
whose  illustrations  and 
paintings  are  familiar  to 
all  interested  in  modern 
design,  has  done  a  few 
very  charming  plates;  one, 


unnamed,  appears  in  the  "  Ladies'  Book-plates," 
and  others  here  reproduced  for  the  first  time,  in- 
clude the  artist's  own  plate  and  one  for  Samuel 
Poole.  But  most  important  is  the  fanciful  and 
elegantly  disposed  design  for  the  e.x  libris  of  May 
Laurence,  which  is  here  produced  from  the  original 
drawing.  In  face  of  the  examples  given,  it  is  need- 
less to  enlarge  on  their  merits,  which  are  neither 
few  nor  difficult  to  discover. 

The  name  of  Mr.  H.  Ospovat,  a  young  artist  of 
Russian  birth,  is  likely  to  be  still  better  known 
amongst  collectors  of  e.x  libris  in  the  near  future, 
for  his  designs  are  increasing  in  number  and  in 
quality  at  the  same  ratio.  At  first,  as  in  the 
plates  for  Walter  Crane  and  Charles  Rowley,  he  was 
more  or  less  inspired  by  contemporary  influences, 
but  in  each  succeeding  design  he  is  finding  his 
own  personality  more  and  more.     The  following 


EXLIBRF 


^  J/iME/ginAVD 
ROBERT/ON 


/<-a/T)ovat 


BY  II.  osrov.vr 


39 


British  Book-plates 


is  a  list  in  order  of  execution  of  his  liest  plates  : — 
James  Hoy  (two  designs),  John  and  Jessie  Hoy, 
Frank  Iliffe  Hoy,  John  and  Jessie  Hoy,  George 
Moore,  A.  Efnrys  Jones,  Fred  Beech,  J.  H.  Reynolds, 
T.  C.  Abbott,  James  and  Maud  Robertson,  and 
the  design  for  Arthur  Guthrie,  reproduced  here- 
with. Knowing  the  artistic  sympathies  of  the 
artist,  and  the  painstaking  attention  he  bestows 
upon  every  subject,  it  is  impossible  not  to  believe 
that  he  will  soon  be  reckoned  among  the  best  of  the 
few  designers  who  lay  themselves  out  to  design 
fx  liliris.  His  work  in  other  departments  of 
illustration  show  that  the  delicacy  and  fantasy  of 


BY   H.   OSI'OVAT 


his  book-plates  are  deliberate,  and  that  he  can  be 
robust  and  realistic  when  the  subject  demands  it. 

Miss  E.  F.  Brickdale,  a  young  illustrator  of 
conspicuous  promise,  shows  in  the  designs  for 
Charles  Fortesaie  Brickdale,  Grace  Elisabeth  Glad- 
stone, and  Ada  Maiy  Dcvenish  IValrond,  not  merely 
]ileasant  fancy,  but  distinct  effort  to  break  away 
from  the  formal  rectangular  shape,  so  long  deemed 
essential.  The  rather  gruesome  device  on  the 
last  named,  with  its  mysterious  motto,  seems 
unduly  sombre,  although  bookplates  are  the  happy 
hunting-ground  of  grisly  skeletons.  Hut  tlie  merits 
of  these  designs  far  outweigh  their  shortcomings, 
and  it  is  evident  that  Miss  Brickdale  is  likely  to 
become  as  popular  in  this  field  of  design  as  in 
others  where  already  she  has  scored  notable 
successes. 

Aubrey  Beardsley  designed  a  few  book  plates ; 
how  many  is  not  quite  clear,  for  certain  so-called 
ex  libris,  surreptitiously  offered  for  sale,  look  like 
"  fakes,''  that  is,  like  drawings  made  into  book- 
plates by  the  addition  of  a  printed  name,  and  not 
really  designed  for  that  purpose.  One  taken  from 
a  Mortc  d'Arthur  border,  and  another  from  a  Savoy 
prospectus,  may  be  authorised,  but  they  are  not 
true  ex  libris.  The  first  authentic  example,  one 
for  Dr.  J.  Lumsden  Proper!  (whose  famous  collec- 
tion of  miniatures  was  lately  dispersed),  appeared 
in  No.  I  of  the  "Yellow  Book."  A  rejiroduction 
(jf  a  plate  for  Miss  Olive  distance  was  gi\en  in  a 
recent  number  of  The  Sketch.  Those  for  Ataister 
Cnra'ley  and  Gerald  Kelly  have  not,  so  far,  been 
reproduced.  The  so-called  "  Beardsley's  own 
book-plate,"  reproduced  in  the  "  Fifty  Drawings," 
completes  the  list.  That  the  latter  could  ever  be 
used,  except  in  "top-shelf"  volumes,  is  doubtful  ; 
it  is  an  unhappy  instance  of  the  perverted  fancy 
which  the  greatest  admirers  of  the  genius  of  the 
wonderful  black-and-white  artist  can  but  regret. 

It  would  be  tempting  to  call  the  ex  libris  for 
John  Turnbull  Knox  by  Miss  Macdonald  unique, 
were  it  not  that  certain  of  Mr.  Herbert  McNair's 
designs,  conceived  in  not  dissimilar  mood,  come  to 
mind.  Those  for  George  Staiisen  McJVair,  Herbert 
McNair,  and  John  Turnbull  Knox  have  already 
been  illustrated  in  The  Studio,  and  others  are 
reproduced  here. 

Mr.  H.  Napper's  design  for  Cicelv  Rose  Glecson 
White,  a  very  original  composition,  and  for  a  lady's 
])late,  unnamed,  are  reproduced  in  Miss  Labou- 
chere's  book.  Other  designs  include  a  conven- 
tionally headed  landscape  for  Alan  Wright  and  an 
original  motive  for  Victor  Burnand. 

A  distinct  class  of  plates,  of  which  singularly 
few  examples  seem  to  have  been  produced  so  far, 
are  those  intended  for  use  in  bound  or  sheet 
music.  On  such  there  is  a  good  opjiortunity  for 
the  introduction  of  symbolism  of  a  sort  other  than 
that  appropriate  to  ordinary  books.  That  it  is 
always  needful  to  include  a  stave  of  manuscript 
(or    printed)    music,  is  a  matter  of    taste.     Cer- 


40 


k     BOOK-PLATE   BY 
H.  OSPOVAT 


/-,';../.•,,/,   /,v,./  f>Intcs 


,i  V 


.1..1, 


the   li' 

vvith.       Knowing   t! 


"i  heru- 
les    of  the 


:  /I 
■d- 
ily 


^<:.      Hi 


'1Pfe*J.H  \ 


fr?'  'jd^^  '■ 


ind  it  is  evicl 
iHrcome  .1 
cithers   w 

sucilssl-s. 


|M 


(  few  hook -plates  ; 

for  certain  so-called 

■  d  for  sale,  look  like 

n^'s  made  into  book- 


Arlhur  \ 

',  may   I.  ■    -,     ■  • 

'V/jj.      The  first  authentic  < 


IMI     /.v.    _/ 

tion   of  I 


■.s!u>  1.  !!  ■ 

It  would  be  tempting  to  call  thi 

J.,hv.        f:-  '•  "■  " 


Ah-.  1 : 
Whit,-  ,i 


cl.  are   r 

nii...r 


'  ■_■( , 

on 


lor 
lie, 


l^bou- 


'  iigularly 

I  so  far, 

■  If    sheet 

d  opportunity  for 

1.  .>l  a  sort  other  than 

v  books.     That    it  is 


40 


^  0>*po^'*.t    ^j 


British  Book-plates 


tainly  such  an  extract  may  parallel  exactly  the 
choice  of  a  pertinent  motto  quoted  from  some 
favourite  author,  which  is  a  very  constant,  and 
on  the  whole,  admirable  feature  of  a  book  label. 
The  fragment  of  music  should  always  represent 
some  actual  phrase,  and  be  written  with  due 
attention  to  the  various  items — the  clef  sign,  the 
time  marks,  and  so  on — which  musical  composers 
employ.  The  main  phrase  of  Bach's  CliaconnCi 
a  motive  from  Dey  Ring  Des  Nibeliingeii,  a  phrase 
from  a  folk  song,  or  the  refrain  of  a  favourite 
ballad,  according  to  the  owner's  taste,  may  well 
be  used.  On  one  plate  for  a  composer's  sheet 
music,  his  crest  being  a  cannon,  his  favourite 
motto,  consisting  of  a  paraphrase  in  dog-Latin 
of  the  hackneyed  "  I  sought  rest  but  found  it 
not  save  in  nooks  with  books,"  was  set  to  a 
"  Canon  "  of  his  own  composing,  and  so  made 
an  apt  motif  for  the  designer  to  embody.  The 
vernacular  of  this  motto  seems  to  suggest  that 
the  victim  of  insomnia  could  only  coax  slumber 
with  the  assistance  of  the  pages  of  some 
volume,  a  reading  that,  if  pertinent,  is  also 
impertinent,  and  out  of  place  when  "  musical  " 
book-plates  are  in  question.  An  adaptation 
(by  permission)  of  a  design  by  the  late  Sir  Edward 


^^^ 

mmmmmmi^^mm^'^ 

^^^^S 

Wfj^i'M 

I^^^^MJ 

)^^m 

^v^^^' 

mkt^^ 

Vu^^^mS- 

l^ 

IP^^^ 

•EX'LIBR[3- 

\    WM 

'^^m^^.i^^^ 

BY   G.    \V.    RHEAD 


CHAELES 
FORTESCUt 
■BRICKDAF 

BY    MISS    E.    F.    BRICKDAI.E 


Burne-Jones,  forms  the  music  book- 
plate of  the  Cambridge  Musical  Society. 
Another  adaptation  of  a  charming 
design  by  P.  V.  Galland  is  in  use  for 
a  private  collection  of  music.  A  very 
graceful  design  by  Mr.  Alan  Wright, 
for  Madame  Campbell  Perugini,  is 
figured  in  Mr.  Egerton  Castle's  English 
book-plates,  and  several  of  Mr.  Anning 
Bell's  designs  bear  figures  symbolising 
"  Music."  The  subject  affords  full 
opportunity  for  graceful  invention.  If 
intended  for  songs  and  sheet  music,  it 
is  well  to  choose  a  shape  and  size  that 
can  be  used — on  the  first  page  of  the 
actual  wrapper  —  without  being  too 
assertive.  The  dimensions  of  a  label 
of  this  kind  should  be  about  the 
size  of  three  postage  stamps  arranged 
\ertically.  This,  without  being  unduly 
prominent,  emphasises  the  ownership 
of  the  music,  and  so  diminishes  the 
risk  of  involuntary  theft,  which  all 
singers  and  soloists  know  is  apt  to 
become  general  in  the  rush  to  catch 
trains  and  cabs  after  a  soiree  or  a  con- 
cert. In  fact,  the  music  label  has  a 
claim  for  sheer  utility,  approaching 
that  of  a   luggage  tag.     An  orthodox 

43 


British  Book-plates 


ex  lihris  does  not  proclaim  the  ownership  without 
special  reference  to  the  inside  of  its  cover;  hut  a 
music  hook-plate,  like  the  familiar  "  Mudie  '"  lahcl, 
warns  off  those  who  have  no  right  to  it,  and  con- 
victs, at  a  glance,  any  one  who  has  "  sweated  it  " 
(to  use  an  expressive  bit  of  slang). 

On  such  plates  the  portrait  of  a  great  master  is 
in  keeping.  For  few  lovers  of  literature  own  such 
absolute  sovereigns  as  do  music  lovers.  The  danger 
in  portraiture,  however,  is  that  there  are  even  fewer 
accepted  giants ;  and  although  this  makes  the 
presence  of  the  one  chosen  more  appropriate,  since 
he  is  likely  to  represent  the  taste  of  a  lifetime,  the 
result  would  probably  be  that  most  people  chose 
Bach,  Beethoven,  or  Wagner — a  few  would  jier- 
haps  decide  for  Mozart  or  Chopin — but  other 
composers  would  scarce  find  a  single  champion. 
To  be  eclectic,  and  to  set  forth  upon  the  label 
a  detailed  list  of  one's  heroes,  would  be  worse 
than  foolish,  because  such  a  list  would  be  sure 
to  grow  more  or  less  out  of  date.     Mottoes  also 


QR^IiSYni^  FKIL^ 


HV    II.    (IKANVll.l.K    rKl.l. 


BY    BVAM    SHAW 


would  be  fairly  certain  to  be  drawn 
from  a  few  obvious  sources.  In- 
deed, the  first  half-dozen,  which 
would  become  as  common  as  the  too 
familiar  tags  in  book-plates  proper, 
will  occur  to  any  one.  Yet  although 
comparatively  little  first-rate  poetry 
has  been  written  "  in  praise  of  Music," 
a  search  in  Mr.  Charles  Sayle's  ad- 
mirable anthology  so  entitled  (which 
is  not  limited  to  verse),  would  discover 
many  phrases  at  once  felicitous  and 
pregnant.  But  the  whole  ques- 
tion of  appropriate  mottoes  cannot 
be  discussed.  Indeed,  at  this  stage, 
when  space  has  been  exceeded,  the 
true  essentials  of  a  book-plate  appear 
to  have  been  scarcely  mentioned, 
much  less  exhausted.  Its  size  (it  is 
nearly  always  far  too  large)  should  be 
considered,  its  mottoes  (if  any)  duly 
weighed,  the  question  of  "colour" 
versus  "  black  and  white  "  presented 
/udicially,  the  necessity  for  the  very 
existence  of  a  book-plate  (by  no  means 
a  proved  case)  argued  without  bias  in 
its  favour.  But  the  inflexible  "  space 
at  our  command "  rises  as  a  grim 
spectre.  As  in  old  age  we  feel,  not 
that  we  have  derived  some  pleasure 
and  experience  from  life,  but  that  what 
might  have  been  far  surpasses  what 
has  been,  so  at  the  end  of  a  short 
article,  or  of  a  life-work,  the  omissions 


44 


'^yO; 


French  Book-plates 


rise  up  in  armies  and_  will  not  be  dispersed. 
Any  attempt  to  seek  out  and  chronicle  the 
existence  of  every  worthy  book-plate  would  be 
as  difficult  and  as  useless  as  to  attempt  to 
recognise  every  worthy  person  in  her  Majesty's 
census.  Exhaustive  efforts  exhaust  not  only 
the  one  who  engages  in  them,  but  his  audience 
also.  As  a  rule  the  audience  suffers  first. 
So  if  the  would-be  encyclopaedic  monograph 
stands  confessed  a  mere  fragment,  the  conse- 
quences to  the  mass  of  mankind  are  not 
disastrous.  To  exhaust  a  hobby  is  to  kill  it ; 
once  a  collection  is  complete,  its  charm  (to  the 


.To  THL«>l"?THOV(iH 
ToTHo5E-of=    VN 

-BORN  UAYS     1^ 


10Tn«DAY3-S& 
eyoNDJHtVElLfij 


BY   .M.\R«.\RET   .MACl)ON.\LI) 


collector)  has  vanished.  It  is  always  the  next  prize 
which  inspires  the  competitor,  in  small  things  as 
in  great,  and  following  a  respectful  precedent,  if  he 
gains  all  he  weeps  because  there  are  no  more  to 
conquer.  Therefore,  as  no  man,  not  even  if  he 
approaches  the  hundred  thousand  (as  report  has  it) 
of  Sir  Wollaston  Franks'  collection,  is  near  finality. 
The  quest  of  the  book-plate  possesses  at  least  the 
charm  of  the  incomplete,  for  no  man  can  say,  "  I 
have  all " ;  anybody  may  design  for  himself  a 
"plate"  limited  to  a  single  impression  and  so 
frustrate  the  collector's  efforts. 

Gleeson  White. 


->RE.N'CH     BOOK-PLATES. 
OCTAVE  UZAXXE. 


J5V 


RV    HKRBF.RT  MC.XAIR 


I  The  history  of  the  marks  of  ownership 

JL  in  books  has  been  written  often  enough  in 

Germany  and  in   England  as  in  France. 

The  study  of  vignetted  ex  libris  is  full  of  interest. 

Some  of   the    first   productions   of  the  kind  are 

47 


THAT  Fi*'*  nn  PEg-aMI  -^  %.  .  »* 


{See  British  Book-plates) 


]5V    FRANCES  MACDOXALD 


French  Book-plates 


attributed,  on  what  is  believed  to  be  good  authority, 
to  the  genius  of  Albert  Diirer,  and  others  to 
Behan)  and  Virgile  Solis.  In  France  the  earliest 
makers  of  book-plates  were  Thomas  de  Leu, 
Leonard  Gaultier,  Firens  and  Jean  Picard.  In 
those  days  they  took  the  form  of  heraldic  designs, 
shields  en  accolade,  and  so  on,  fantastically  adorned 
with  extraordinary  scallops,  and  flanked  by  figure 
portraits  or  by  cnpids.  Nearly  all  the  great  artists 
of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  con- 
descended to  execute  some  of  these  modest  little 
works,  which  seem  more  rightly  to  be  within  the 
province  of  the  armorial  engraver.  Among  the 
names  that  suggest  themselves  as  most  repre- 
sentative during  the  reigns  of  Louis  XV.  and 
Louis  XVL,  I  may  mention  those  of  Sebastien  Le 
Clerc,  Lepautre,  Berain,  Bernard-Picard,  Saint- 
Aubin,  Frangois  Boucher,  Eisen,  Gravelot,  Moreau- 
Le-Jeune,  Marillier  and  Choffard.  These  artists 
introduced  into  the  book-plate  all  the  art  motifs 
of  the  day — blazon,  monogram,  allegory,  emblem 
and  inscribed  scroll,  the  whole  work  being  en- 
graved in  relief,  or  en  creiix,  and  printed  either 
from  the  copper-plate  or  by  typography,  ready  to 
be  pasted  into  the  fly-leaf  of  the  volume.  In  the 
last  century  all  book-plates  were  of  the  Rebus 
order,  and  invariably  needed  more  or  less  inter- 
pretation. It  was,  as  Poulet-Malassis  remarked, 
"  a  sort  of  armorial  carnival,"  a  jumble  in  which 
everything  seemed  out  of  place,  and  wore  an 
ambiguous  air.  One  finds  blazons  placed  on 
balconies,  with  armorial  bearings  forming  a  ceiling 
below  the  clouds,  cartouches  supported  by  theatrical 
draperies,  griffons  guarding  a  field  gules,  and  lions 


guarding  a  field  asur.  A  light  and  graceful  art, 
lending  itself  to  all  sorts  of  whimsicalities,  and 
resulting  in  numberless  curious  works,  for  which 
the  collector  is  ever  on  the  look-out. 

The  early  part  of  the  present  century  and  the 


EX  LIBRIS 

OLIVE 
CV3TANCE 


BY   AUBREY    BEARDSI.EY 
{See    British    Book-plales) 


BOOK-PLATE  FOR    M.    POULET-MALASSIS 
BY    BRACQUEMOXD 


"  Romantic  period"  produced,  so  far  as  France  is 
concerned,  but  few  book-plates  signed  by  artists 
of  the  first  rank.  The  1830  generation  left  nothing 
of  any  importance  in  this  direction  ;  and  it  is 
interesting  to  remark 
that  none  of  the  great 
illustrators  of  that  excited 
period  has  bequeathed 
any  souvenir  in  the  form 
of  an  ex  libris.  One 
can  discover  no  trace  of 
aTony  Johannot,  nothing 
of  Deveria,  or  Celestin 
Nanteuil,  or  Gigoux,  or 
indeed  of  any  of  the 
other  artists  who  would 
seem  to  have  been  so 
well  qualified  for  this 
kind  of  work.  This  is 
due  to  the  fact  that  the 
French  bibliophile  from 
1S25  to  1875  ^^'^s  a 
retrospective  personage, 
understanding  nothing  of 
the  age  in  which  he  lived, 
or  of  his  artistic  and 
literar)'  environment,  but 
imbued  with  a  strongly 
antiquarian  spirit  which 
found  exclusive  delight 
in  the  purely  heraldic 
49 


FrciicJi  Hook-plate. 


BY    HRACgUICMOND 


hook-plate,  calling  for  no  interpretation   save  that 

furnished  by  the  skilful  but  unimaginative  engraver. 

Amateurs  of  this  sort,  hunters  of  first  editions 


BY   VAN    Ml'YDEN 


\'ictor  Hugo  and  his  school,  and  regarded  as 
madmen  the  artists  who  illustrated  the  works  of 
such  ijublishers  as  Renduel  or  Levasseur,  the 
champions  of  that  Renaissance  which  was  destined 
to  take  so  deep  a  root.  The  old-fashioned  col- 
lector would  have  considered  his  precious  bouquin 
desecrated  by  the  pencil  of  one  of  these  bearded 
draughtsmen,  who  were  introducing  here,  there, 
and  everywhere  the  note  of  grim  and  mystic 
fatalism.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  genuine 
"  Romantic  "  book-plate  is  so  scarce. 

Some  few  there  are  to  be  found  which  express 
the  feeling  of  the  moment — such  as  those  depict- 
ing a  mausoleum  with  the  owner's  name  carved 
on  tlie  stone,  or  a  tomb  beneath  the  wet  ping- 
willows,  or  a  feudal  ruin,  or  a  rock  on  which  with 
his    arrow-tip    ("u()iil    inscribes    a    name.      'I'hese 


and  Aldin 
despised 
50 


es  and  other  rarities,  Gothic  and  Latin, 
the    "Romantic"    movement,    belittled 


ANONYMOUS 


things  were  produced  in  a  flabby  style  of  heavy 
lithography,  with  neither  art  nor  taste  to  redeem 
it.  None  of  them  deserves  special  mention  ;  in- 
deed, many  seem  to  belong  to  the  category  of 
"  fancy "  book-plates,  which  almost  demands  a 
chapter  to  itself. 

The  modern  Renaissance  of  the  artistic  book- 
plate was  neither  inspired  nor  sup[)orted  by  the 
old-fashioned  bibliophile,  nor  yet  by  the  wailthy 
collector,  who  is  rarely  seen  at  the  head  of  any 
revolutionary  movement,  but  comes  up  when  the 
victory  is  won.  The  position  gained,  and  the  new 
territory  being  worth  e.xploiting  for  the  benefit  of 
his  vanity,  he  takes  his  stand  among  the  con- 
querors. The  real  moral  and  material  support 
came  from  the  artists'  friends — the  writers  and 
critics,  the  bibliographers  and  savants — who  in- 
duced the  painters  and  ornanienters  and  illustrators 


French  Book-plates 


of  their  acquaintance  to  execute  "  marks  of  owner- 
ship "  in  harmony  with  their  tastes  and  pursuits 
and  fancies.  Thus  it  was  that  M.  Aglaiis  Bou- 
venne,  one  of  the  most  fertile  composers  of  book- 
plates at  the  present  time,  an  artist  endowed  with 
the  keenest  and  most  subtle  of  temperaments, 
conceived  the  delightful  vignettes  which  adorn  the 
works  of  Victor  Hugo,  Theophile  Gautier,  Fran- 
(;ois  Coppee,  Champfleury,  and  Bracquemond,  and 
those  of  the  writer  of  these  pages.     Discarding  all 


BY    EVERT    VAN    MrVDEN 


BY   EVERT  VAN    ML'YUEX 


armorial  combinations,  Aglaiis  Bouvenne  started  a 
new  style  by  devoting  himself  exclusively  to  original 
monograms.  Thus,  for  Victor  Hugo's  plate,  he 
bethought  him  of  a  memorable  line  by  Auguste 
Vacquerie — 

Les  Tours  de  Notre  Dame  etaient  IH.  de  son  nom. 

In  silhouette  we  see  Notre-Dame  de  Paris 
against  a  dark  background,  while  on  the  whiteness 
of  the  lightning  flash  rending  the  blackness  of  the 
sky  is  inscribed  the  great  poet's  "  mark  of  owner- 
ship." This  book-plate,  belonging  to  the  sove- 
reign pontiff  of  Romantic  Literature,  was  but 
sparingly  used,  for  it  is  well  to  note  that  Victor 
Hugo's  library  was  ever  of  the  smallest.  M. 
Paul  Meurice,  the  friend  of  the  Master,  and  his 
surviving  testamentary  e.\ecutor,  assured  me  quite 
recently  that  Hugo  possessed  a  very  small  number 
of  books,  certainly  not  more  than  a  hundred,  all 
contained  in  a  simple  bookcase.  One  book 
alone  monopolised  his  attention  ;  that  book  was 
the  Bible. 

For  Theophile  Gautier,  iM.  Bouvenne  invented 
a  plate  in  the  form  of  an  Egyptian  symbol,  with 
which  the  great  aristarch  must  have  been  delighted. 
It  represents  a  sort  of  temple  dedicated  to  Isis, 
the  pediment  bearing  the  monogram  of  the  author 
of  the  Roman  de  la  Momie.     It  is  of  hieroglyphic 


simplicity  and  harmoniously  conceived.  P"or 
Frangois  Coppee  the  artist  has  chosen  the  massive 
Greek  lyre,  shining  like  the  sun  ;  in  the  centre 
one  sees  the  black  lettering  forming  the  name  of 


BY  AGLAUS   BOUVENNE 


51 


French  Book-plates 


the  Parnassian  rhymer.  On  behalf  of  Chanip- 
fleury,  one  of  the  leading  lights  of  realistic  litera- 
ture, Kouvenne  designed  a  species  of  landscape 
scene,  with  a  high  hedge  in  the  foreground,  screen- 
ing a  mirror— the  Mirror  of  Truth.  Bouvenne  is 
eminently  successful  in  his  arrangement  of  the 
monogram  ;  he  was  the  real  restorer  of  the  art  of 
grouping  letters  into  an  agreeable  whole,  and  the 
manner  in  which  he  contrives  to  express  all  the 
graphic  character  of  a  name  within  the  compass 
of  a  simple  auioiulie  is  wonderful  in  its  sense  of 
synthesis  and  its  incomparable  gracefulness  of 
detail. 

Among  the  artists  who  have  devoted  themselves 
to  the  production  of  book-plates,  the  celebrated 
etchir,  Bracciueniond  is  certainly  entitled  to  a 
foremost  place  ;  some  of  his  bibliographic  vignettes, 
delightfully  composed  and  superbly  engraved  in 
the  dry-point  manner,  are  well  known,  notably  the 
plate  belonging  to  the  publisher,  Poultt-Malassis, 
showing  a  book  wide  open,  with  this  device  around 
it — Je  Fai.  "  I  have  it  "  is  the  book-hunter's  cry 
of  triumph  when  he  has  contrived  to  place  a  new 


rarity  on  his  shelves,  the  joyous  exclamation  that 
suggests    the  "  Eureka  !  "  of  Archimedes.      Many 


BOOK-ri.yVrE   I'OK    IIIE   "  I.IVRE   modkkne' 
HV    KKI.ICIE.N    ROrs 


BY    A.    ROB  I  DA 


Other  plates  there  are  by  Bracque- 
mond  deserving  of  mention  as 
curious  e.xamples  of  fanciful  work  ; 
that  of  ICdouard  Manet,  for  in- 
stance, with  this  charming  and 
prophetic  device,  Manet  el  Maiicbil ; 
or  that  of  Philippe  Burty,  an  irradi- 
ated [jhrygian  cap  illuminating  the 
world,  with  the  legend,  Libre  el 
fidilf,  depending  from  the  Ijeak  of 
a  stork  with  outspread  wings ;  or 
again  tho.se  done  for  Georges 
Pouchet,  for  Christophe  the  sculp- 
tor, and  for  Mario  Proth.  For 
Aglaiis  Bouvenne,  Bracquemond 
did  some  superb  vignettes,  very 
free  in  design  and  most  originally 
conceived,  the  technique  being 
quite  impeccable  in  its  bold  vigour. 
Before  Bracquemond's  day  there 
were  masters,  such  as  Alexandre 
Bida,  who  did  not  disdain  to  dis- 
play their  talents  in  this  direction. 
A  charming  thing  by  Bida  was  en- 
graved on  wood  by  Pollet  for  Pelix 
Solar,  the  celebrated  financier- 
litterateur.  It  depicts  an  oriental 
reading  on  a  Turkish  divan  with 
the  simple  signature  of  the  mil- 
lionaire owner  on  the  white  wall  of 
the  background.  It  is  a  gem,  with 
all  the  finish  of  a  Meissonier,  and 


French  Book-plates 


the  rare  proofs  of  this  beautiful  engraving  are  for 
the  most  part  printed  on  China  paper  in  a  very 
delicate  tone  of  bistre-red. 

Gavarni  himself  did  a  book-plate — one  of  the 
most  exijuisite  in  existence — for  his  biographers, 
Edmond  and  Jules  de  Goncourt.  It  is  simply  a 
hand,  with  two  of  the  fingers,  the  index  and  the 
middle,  resting  on  a  sheet  of  paper  which  bears 
the  initials  of  the  brothers'  christian-names.  And, 
indeed,  the  two  great  writers  were  as  indissolubly 
united  as  two  fingers  on  the  same  hand.  This 
drawing  by  Gavarni  was  admirably  etched  liy  Jules 
de  Goncourt,  whose  abilities  as  an  cau-forliste  were 
proved  by  the  publication  of  his  engravings. 


£XLi8R/s  J.CARTAULT 


BY   LEON    MAROLLE 


Leopold  Flameng,  another  clever  etcher  and 
engraver,  designed  two  ex  libris,  one  for  Doctor 
Gerard  Piogey,  and  the  other  for  Pierre  Deschamps, 
the  bibliophile.  This  latter  is  quite  original ;  in 
an  oval  frame,  devoid  of  all  lettering,  is  represetited 
an  ass  philosophically  squatting  at  the  foot  of  a 
hedge,  in  mute  significance,  doubtless,  of  the 
owner's  rest — the  repos  dcs  champs. 

Felicien  Rops,  the  famous  Belgian  artist,  whose 
recent  death  we  all  lament,  was  interested  in  this 
as  in  every  branch  of  art,  and  designed  and 
engraved  several  book-plates.  He  executed  a 
beautiful  cartouche  as  an  ex  libris  for  the  magazine, 
Le  Livre  Modenie,  in  the  form   of  Daphne  trans- 


formed into  a  tree,  with  the  device,  Semper  Libri 
virescit  amor ;  and,  apart  from  this,  did  numerous 
vignettes,  including  one  for  Madame  X ,  a  cat 


BY    REROFF 


lying  purring  on  a  cushion,  with  the  words  Arnica 
lion   serva ;   one  for  myself,  a  young  girl  leaning 


liOOKPLATE   OF   THE    nROTHERS   DE   C.ON'COURT 
BY   GAVARNI 


against   the   statue    of  a    faun,    with 
without  device,  upon  the  pediment. 


two  mitials. 

Then  for  his 

S3 


French  Book-plate. 


own  personal  use  he  did  several  curious  things, 
including  his  well-known  mark — a  pencil  crowned 
witli  roses,  and  terminating  in  a  lighted  torch, 
leaning  against  a  skull  wearing  a  fool's  cap,  the 
whole  encircled  by  a  scroll  with  his  motto — 
Aullre  ne  veulx  cslre.  In  going  through  the  pro- 
ductions of  Ftlicien  Rops  one  might  discover 
some  twenty  or  thirty  or  even  forty  book-plate 
vignettes,  not  to  mention  numerous  publishers' 
marks  designed  by  him  for  bibliophiles  in  Brussels 
antl  in  Paris.  Rops  had  a  special  genius  for  these 
little  works,  which  demand  so  much  compression, 
and  balance  and  style.  He  revelled  in  these 
rebus-like  compositions,  wherein  his  ironic  spirit 
had  free  play.  In  heart  he  was  always  a  vignettist, 
for  he  loved  to  show  the  ((uintessence  of  things. 
It  may  with  truth  be  declared  that  all  his  book- 
plates are  real  masterpieces,  and  will  serve  as 
models  even  when  some  of  his  other  work,  often 
super-erotic,  is  forgotten. 

The  painter  Legros,  who  had  his  day  of  fame 
some  twenty  years  ago,  took  pride  in  composing  a 
book-mark  for  the  fierce  tribune,  Leon  Gambetta. 


nnR.«aa«maii«'*.^aaHA^^^i!?Uflp<V 


BY   .\LF1I0.SSE   LEGROS 


BY    Ltox    LEBfeuUE 


The  plate  is  not  without  merit,  but  might  well 
be  passed  over  unnoticed  but  for  the  celebrity 
of  its  former  possessor,  which  invests  the  work 
with  a  special  interest.  I  much  prefer  the  two 
anonymous  vignettes  executed  for  the  aeronauts 
-Mbert  and  Ciaston  Tissandier,  and  represent- 
ing a  pair  of  graceful  balloons  soaring  through 
the  air,  with  the  owners'  names  introduced  into 
the  draperies  of  the  car,  and  the  streamers 
floating  in  the  breeze. 

Here  we  reach  the  domain  of  the  emblema- 
tic engraving  which  has,  perhaps,  been  some- 
what overdone.  The  Comtesse  de  Noe,  to 
symbolise  her  scriptural  name,  took  as  her 
book-plate  an  engraving  of  that  famous  pre- 
historic ark  wherein  reposed  the  germs  of  all 
our  destinies  ;  while  M.  Paul  Cordier,  the  well- 
known  scholar,  assumed  as  his  mark  the  figure 
of  a  ropemaker  laboriously  plaiting  his  hemp. 
Elsewhere  we  find  more  or  less  ambitious  play- 
ing upon  words.  M.  De  Laborderie,  a  cele- 
brated Breton  aavant,  had  for  his  book-plate 
the  figure  of  a  pilot,  approaching  the  "  Cotes 
de  I'Armorique,"  and  waving  a  flag  with  the 
device:  Qui  Taborde  rie ;  Charles  Monselet, 
maker  of  so  many  whimsical  books,  had  pasted 


54 


French  Book-plates 


■HElJRY-ANDKt      irgv        UtL       S' 


bookplates  of  this  kind,  illustrating  a  some- 
times rather  cheap  form  of  punning  humour. 
Many  book-lovers  there  are  who  disapprove  the 
harmless  vignette  altogether,  holding  that  the 
"  mark  of  ownership "  in  a  book  should  Le  of 
absolute  simplicity,  and  should  consist  solely  of 
the  proprietor's  name  stamped  on  leather  by  a 
binder,  in  the  old  fashion.  Needless  to  say, 
these  captious  bibliophiles  are  not  artists,  but 
rather  plutocrats,  who,  possessing  the  richest 
and  oldest  bindings,  and  the  choicest  and  most 
famous  volumes,  are  averse  to  everything  that  is 
new  in  artistic  expression. 

"  It  is  worthy  of  remark,"  writes  a  critic  of 
this  sort,  whose  name  I  will  not  mention,  "  that 
at  the  present  time  true  book-lovers  are  doing 
their  utmost  to  preserve  their  books  from  the 
contamination  of  the  (x  libris.  Their  book- 
plates are  kept  as  small  as  possible,  being  usually 
simple  strips  of  leather  on  which  the  name  is 
printed  by  the  binder.  '  Non-bibliophiles,'  "  he 
adds,  "  use  enormous  plates  on  which  they  dis- 
play shields  and  figures,  emblems  and  devices, 
rebuses  and  battle-subjects — veritable  placards 
covering  the  entire  fly-leaf.  One  should  be 
careful  not  to  place  such  things  in  books  of 
value."  In  conclusion  he  remarks  :  "  The  book- 
plate may  be  regarded  as  an  aerometer  which 


KV    IlENRV   ANDRE 


in  his  volumes  a  drawing  of  a  sort  of  topsy- 
turvy library,  with  this  double-edged  legend  : 
Livres  Amoncdcs ;  M.  Raisin,  a  prominent 
advocate  of  Geneva,  chose  a  book  resting 
open  against  a  vine-stalk,  on  which  a  fox 
is  climbing,  the  suggestion  being  based  on 
Lafontaine's  fable  of  "  The  Fox  and  the 
Grapes  " — and  the  grapes  are  too  sour  !  M. 
Wolff,  a  writer,  renumbering  the  German 
origin  of  his  name,  takes  for  his  ex  libris  a 
wolf  shut  up  in  a  library,  with  the  words 
Oucerens  quein  devoret ;  a  lawyer  and  book- 
lover,  M.  Jacob,  displays  above  an  open 
volume  "  Jacob's  ladder "  thronged  with 
angels  bearing  books ;  M.  Jules  Cousin,  a 
librarian,  takes  for  his  mark  the  terrible  little 
insect,  his  namesake,  anglici,  the  gnat  ; 
Vigeant,  the  fencing-master,  chose  a  pair  of 
monkeys  fighting  a  duel;  and  M.  Pellerin  de 
la  Touche,  a  prominent  official  in  the  Paris- 
Lyon-Mediterranee  Railway,  has  selected  for 
his  motto  the  words  of  Montaigne  :  //  ii'est 
pas  de  meilleiire  luuitiliun  pour  cet  hiiuiain 
pelerinage,  with  a  portrait  of  himself  in 
monastic  garb,  on  a  pilgrimage  through  the 
realms  of  fancy. 

I  might  mention  more  than  five  hundred 


.AtUak  9<yzT«Bce  urr  a  wiih»  ^Bfifl- 


BY    BOUVENNE 


Froicli  Book-plates 


BY   BRACQUEMOXD 


shall  register  its  owner's  degree  of  book-loving 
capacity ;  and  the  following  axiom  a  la  Balzac  may 
thereon  be  formulated  :  The  merit  of  a  bibliophile 
is  in  an  inverse  ratio  to  the  size  of  his  book-plate." 
Evidently  this  paradox  has  vigorous  supporters 
among  those  dour  bibliojihiles  of  to-day  who  are 
Jansenites  in  matters  of  binding,  who  admire  the 
catgut-stitched  volumes  that  won't  open,  who  seem 
to  regard  a  book  as  something  not   made  to   be 


read.  I  once  invented  a  name  for  people  of  this 
sort — "  Biblioscopes,"  or  those  who  look  only  on 
the  outside  of  their  books,  regardful  merely  of  their 
material  parts  and  caring  nothing  for  the  moral, 
the  Ksthetic,  qualities  they  contain. 

The  true  book-lover  is  not  the  mummified 
bibliophile  who  hesitates  to  handle  his  books  for 
fear  of  soiling  them.  He  is  the  man  of  letters,  the 
student  of  art,  the  amateur  of  novel  styles  and  new 
ornamentations.  For  such  as  these  the  book- 
plate will  long  provide  one  of  the  surest  methods 
of  revealing  their  true  personality,  of  expressing 
their  tastes — and  all  on  this  little  square  of  paper. 
These  much-vaunted  leathern  labels,  bearing  the 
owner's  name  in  gold  letters,  may  be  simple  enough. 


Zm.  fVltflNKR  tJif  Sfll 


56 


BY    H.    E.    COODHl'E 
(See  American  Book-plates) 


BV    .MARV    rRENniVILLE 
(See  American  Book-plates) 


but  they  are  as  ugly,  as  assertive,  and  as  vulgar 
as  the  tickets  in  a  druggist's  or  a  pastrycook's 
window.  To  tolerate  them  on  the  threshold  of  a 
beautiful  work  one  must  be  devoid  of  all  delicacy 
of  vision,  and  to  advocate  their  use  is  simply  a 
Ijarbarism. 

Is  there  any  book-lover  to-day  who  may  be  con- 
sidered to  be  altogether  satisfied  with  his  ex  libris  ? 
This  is  open  to  doubt,  for  many  persons  have  had 
several  done  in  succession.  The  graphic  art 
nowadays  pursues  so  many  courses,  shows  itself 
in    so    many   diverse   ways,    proclaims    so    many 


French  Book-plates 


%  TrfECDOR€-BROWM 
\  HAP6G0D-IVNIOR  ,, 
<  OWNeiH-IHIS-BCDK 


l^^i^^^^K^^I 


'^es^^- 


BY  T.    B.    HAPGOOn 
(See  American  Book-plates) 


schools  of  style,  and  boasts  so  numerous  adherents, 
that  many  an  amateur,  even  with  the  best  inten- 
tions in  the  world, 
hardly  knows  in 
which  direction  to 
apply  for  an  ex 
libris,  the  result 
being  that,  as 
often  as  not,  he 
regrets  what  has 
been  done  for 
him  on  the  verj' 
morrow  of  its 
completion.  In 
France  at  the 
present  moment 
there  is  an  abso- 
lute embarras  dit 
choix,  with  no  one 
in  control,  for 
there  are  more  in- 
dividualities than 
schools  of  art  ! 

If  one  apply  to 
Paul    Avril,     the 


BY    \V.    S.    H  ADA  WAY 
(See  American  Book-plates) 


illustrator  of  the  Evantail,  one  will  receive  a  very 
light  and  delicate  vignette  in  the  eighteenth-century 
manner,  done  in  the  airy  style  of  the  cv  libris  com- 
posed by  this  artist  for  Mrs.  H.  S.  Ashbee  of 
London,  or  Mr.   G.    B.   de  Forest  of  New  York. 


.\sk  for  a  design  from  Jules  Cheret,  and  you  will 
get  a  wild,  fiighty,  impulsive  thing  just  like  one  of 
his  posters.  Eugene  Grasset  will  send  in  a  clear, 
vigorous  composition  like  a  stained-glass  window ; 
A.  Robida  will  not  fail  to  lapse  into  some  witty 
fancy,  in  the  wild  style  of  the  book-plates  pic- 
tured in  the  magazine  L'Arl  el  L Idee,  and  now 
reproduced  here. 

We  have  certainly  no  lack  of  ex  libris  makers  in 
our  midst ;  but  it  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to 
place  them  definitely  in  categories,  and  clearly  to 
state  their  styles.  Among  the  modern  decorators 
who  approach  most  nearly  to  the  English  manner, 

one  may  mention  L. 
O.  Merson,  Adolphe 
Giraldon,  Leon  Rud- 
nicki,  Verneuil,  De 
Feure,  Belville,  Eu- 
gene Courboin,  and 
most  of  our  poster 
painters  and  book- 
cover  illustrators. 
Other  sprightly  and 
thoroughly  Parisian 
e.x-librists,  light  of 
hand  and  full  of 
fanciful  touches,  are 
E.  Van  Muyden, 
Henri  Boutet,  Gia- 
comelli,  Bac,  Metivet, 
Henri  Pille,  Gerbault, 
Leon  Lebegue,  and 
Andhree  des  Gachons . 

BY   C.    F.    BRAGDON 
(See  American  Book-plates) 


w£ 


ELIBRISiNORI 

RIS  HASTINGS 

LAVGHTON^ 


Cy«LSAR  C/L5AREMCECIDI 


BY   T.    B     HAPOOOl) 
(See  American  Book-plates) 


57 


American  Book-phifc. 


It  were  useless  to  attempt  a  definite  apprecia- 
tion of  the  present  state  of  the  ex  lihris,  that 
multitude  of  little  fugitive  sheets  whirling  amid  all 
the  various  winds  of  current  thought.  Later  on, 
perhaps,  the  sober  critic  may  be  able  to  estimate 
the  result  of  it  all  in  the  light  of  some  more  or 
less  complete  collection  of  these  works. 

At  present  the  collector — and  his  name  is  legion 
— holds  the  field.  The  mania  for  acquiring  these 
little  works  is  epidemic  and  cosmopolitan,  and 
nearly  as  severe  as  the  postage-stamp  craze. 

The  history  of  the  hook-plate  has  been  written. 
It  remains  now  to  write  that  of  the  collectors  of 
Ax  litiiis,  and  their  extravagances. 

Octave  Uz.annk. 


s 


OME      AMERICAN      ROOK- 
PI. ATKS.      HY  JEAN    CARR6. 


noble 


If,  as  seems    probable,  the  origin   of 
the  book-plate  is   to   be    sought    in    the 
engraved     coats-of-arnis    wherewith    the 
possessors   of   great   book  collections  were 


accustomed   to  adorn   their   volumes,  it   is  easy  to 


BY   I.OUIS  J.    kllKATi 


understand  why  in  America  the  "  Ex  Libris  "  cult 
should  be  only  just  beginning  to  show  signs  of 
vigorous  growth.  In  the  old  world  the  book- 
plate has  gone  through  a  good  many  stages  of 
evolution,  and  can  prove  its  descent  through 
several  centuries.  It  is  an  expression  of  an  idea 
58 


HV    l.OlilS    J.     UIIF.AI) 


which  has  been  passed  on  from  generation  to 
generation,  and  has  been  modified  from  time  to 
time  to  bring  it  into  agreement  with  changes  in 
the  popular  point  of  view.  A  logical  enough 
result  has,  in  consequence,  been  arrived  at  to-day, 
and  a  distinct  type  of  product  has  been  created 
which,    for    all 


its  definiteness, 
yet  bears  many 
marks  of  its 
origin,  and  dis- 
jilays  features 
that  make  its 
family  history 
comparatively 
easy  to  trace. 

In  America 
there  is  no 
such  sequence 
of  evolutionar)' 
stages.  In  the 
earlier  period 
of  the  national 
growth  people 
were  too  busy 
with     other 


^tlliamSnelUn^ifladawa^ 


1!V    W.    S.    IIAIIAWAV 


EX  LIBRIS 


AMERICAN    BOOK-PLATES 


1.  BY   MARY   PRENDIVILLE 

2.  BY    B.    G.    GOODHUE 

3.  BY  W.    S.    HADAWAY 

4.  BY   W.    S.    HADAWAY 


Antcricaji  Booh-plates 


BY   II.    E.    GOODHIE 


things  to  concern 
themselves  much 
about  heraldic 
badges,  and  were 
more  anxious  to 
make  the  way  smooth 
for  their  descendants 
than  to  preserve  the 
evidences  of  their 
connection  with  a 
European  ancestry. 
Whatever  traditions, 
survivals  of  feudal 
times,  the  first 
settlers  in  America 
brought  with  them 
very  soon  became 
weakened  or  de- 
stroyed by  new  asso- 
ciations and  by  the  interests  of  a  completely 
novel  mode  of  life,  and  those  influences  which 
have  steadily  continued  to  promote  in  the  Old 
World  the  maturing  of  a  pleasant  little  mani- 
festation of  personal  sestheticism  ceased  very 
promptly  there  to  have  any  perceptible  eflect. 
Therefore  the  appearance  of  the  book-plate  in 
America  must  be  regarded  as  the  outcome  of 
importation.  It  is  an  e.xotic  growth  which 
has  taken  root  in  the  soil  of  the  country,  and 
shows  signs  of  establishing  itself  permanently 
and  vigorously. 

At  present,  of  course,  it  retains  most  of  the 
characteristics  which  distinguished  it  in  the 
place  of  its  original  cultivation.  American 
book-plates,  especially  of  the  pictorial  variety, 
have  not  as  yet  acquired  any  distinctive  pecu- 
liarities by  which  they  could  be  referred  to  a 
class  by  themselves,  and  it  can  scarcely  be 
said  that  they  compare  very  favouiably  with 
British  plates  of  the  same  kind.  'J'hcy 
60 


are  tentative  in  treatment,  and,  perhaps,  a  trifle 
timid  in  tiieir  adai>tation  of  the  suggestions  which 
have  been  derived  from  tliis  side  of  the  Atlantic. 
But  there  is,  nevertheless,  a  good  deal  of  promise 
in  what  the  American  designers  are  doing.  A  few 
men  have  already  shown  that  the  possibilities  of 
real  develojjment  are  greater  than  might  at  first 
sight  have  been  imagined;  and  their  labours, 
though  not  very  extensive,  have  been  productive  of 
results  of  riuite  ai>preciai)le  moment.  It  is  note- 
worthy that  hitherto  the  interest  in  book-plates  is 
with  them  a  matter  of  local  feeling.  Most  of  the 
best  work  comes  from  Boston,  where  presumably 
the  (juieter  resthctic  atmosphere  and  the  greater 
educational  advantages   tend   to  foster  a  class  of 

art  which  appeals  to 
the  intelligent  and 
cultured  few  rather 
than  to  the  sensation- 
loving  masses.  Nearly 
all  the  plates  which 
accompany  this  paper 
have  been  produced 
by  a  few  New  Eng- 
land men,  some  of 
whom  are  not  un- 
favourably known 
iieyond  the  limits  of 
their  own  district, 
and  even  outside  the 
confines  of  their 
native  land. 

One  of  the  best  ol 
this  small  group  is 
Bertram     Grosvenor 


nv    II.    E.    GOODHIE 


BY    U.    E.    GOODHl'E 


American  Book-plates 


Goodhue,  a  black-and-white  draughtsman, 
who  has  estabhshed  a  considerable  reputation 
l)y  his  decorative  drawings.  He  has  already 
attracted  attention  in  London  by  his  borders 
and  initials  for  "  The  Altar  Book,"  which  was 
shown  in  the  last  Arts  and  Crafts  Exhibition  ; 
and  a  book-plate  by  him  was  reproduced  in  a 
recent  number  of  The  Studio.  A  certain 
freedom  of  fancy  distinguishes  his  work,  and 
he  has  a  pleasant  command  of  vigorous  and 
expressive  line  which  justifies  the  position  he 
holds  among  his  contemporaries. 

Harry  E.  Goodhue,  who  is  well  known  as 
a  worker  in  glass,  is  represented  by  some 
specimens    of  his    book-plates,   which    show 


1!V   CKADL 
[See  German  Book-plates) 


pleasant  refinement  of  teeling  and  agreeable  variety 
in  design.  As  a  "  name-label,"  the  plate  he  has 
drawn  for  Miss  Alexander  is  by  no  means  unsuc- 
cessful :  it  is  unambitious,  but  has  a  certain  elegance. 
There  is  more  intention  in  another  of  his  designs 
— that  for  June  Eldredge,  with  its  happy  combina- 
tion of  figure  and  landscape.  Another,  for  Juliet 
Armstrong  Collins,  shows  similar  feeling,  but  is  less 
skilful  in  arrangement  and  drawing ;  and  the  fourth 
is  better  in  idea  than  realisation. 

Among  the  black-and-white  draughtsmen  in 
America  the  place  occupied  by  T.  B.  Hapgood, 
jun.,  is  deservedly  prominent;  and  it  may  be 
questioned  whether  those  who  are  well  acquainted 


STT 


BlBLIOTHEK  DES  KaNICLICHEN 
KUNSTCEWERBE-MUSEUMS  •  BERLIN 
CESCHENK 


BY   DOEPLER 
{See  Geniiaii  Book-plates) 


HV    IIll.DEBKAMVr 
(See  German  Book-plates) 


6i 


A  nicricmi  Book-plates 


with  his  work  would  accept  these 
examples  of  his  book-plates  as 
doing  him  justice.  He  has  chosen 
for  them  a  curious  formality  of 
style,  which  in  one  case — that  of 
the  label  for  Mr.  Heintzemann —  ' 
certainly  seems  a  little  ponderous. 
This  particular  one  is,  however, 
intended  for  use  in  the  reference 
library  of  an  important  commercial 
house,  and  so  may  be  justified  as 
appropriate  to  its  surroundings. 
I-'orAIr.  L.iughton's  plat,  the  same 
claim  of  absolute  .suitability  may  be 
advanced. 

In  the  designs  of  W.  S.  Hada- 
way,  another  Boston  artist,  formality 
and  the  conventionalising  of  details 
are  carried  even  farther  than  they 
are  by  Mr.  Hapgood.  Of  all  the 
plates  here  reproduced  his  show 
most  plainly  the  type  of  decorative 
feeling  that  influences  certain  of 
the  American  workers.  He  has  a 
peculiar  tendency  towards  abso- 
lutely symmetrical  compositions, 
and  avoids  entirely  the  suggestion 
of  pictorial  effect.  By  this  method 
of  treatment  he  loses  some  of  the 
freedom  and  richness  which  make  attractive  the  pro- 
ductions of  many  of  the  other  designers,  and  gains 
a  quaint  mediaeval  flavour  that  seems  in  a  measure 


IIV    MANS   TIIOMA 
(See  Ceiiiian  Book-plates) 


62 


1!V    HANS  THOMA 
{See  German  Book-plates) 

out  ot  place  among  the  essentially  modern  surround- 
ings which  the  country  provides.  The  sources  of  his 
inspiration  are  apparently  the  illuminated  missals 
and  manuscripts  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  engraved 
brasses  which  mark  the  tombs  of  knights  and 
bishops  who  lived  many  centuries  ago,  and  the 
tapestries  which  hung  in  the  castles  of  the  feudal 
chieftains  :  all  these  he  seems  to  lay  under  contri- 
bution, and  from  the  material  which  he  collects 
from  such  sources  he  compiles  things  which  are 
attractive,  even  if  not  altogether  appropriate.  In 
his  management  of  technical  devices  he  is  dis- 
tinctly able,  and  his  use  of  solid  blacks  in  contrast 
with  solid  whites  is  consistently  judicious  and 
soundly  decorative.  In  a  sense  it  is  to  be  regretted 
that  he  should  not  apply  his  obvious  skill  with 
more  freedom,  and  should  not  transfer  some  of 
the  attention  which  he  gives  to  ancient  examples 
to  motives  of  a  more  modern  and  living  type. 

Some  other  American  artists  whose  work  deserves 
particular  mention  are  W.  H.  Bradley,  G.  W. 
Edwards,  Frank  Hazenplug,  and  C.  Y.  Bragdon. 
A  single  plate  by  the  last  named  is  reproduced ;  it 
is  curiously  simple  in  treatment,  but  belongs  in  its 
manner  rather  to  the  domain  of  furniture-designing 
than  to  that  of  decorative  black-and-white.  The 
two  drawings  by  Miss  Mary  Prendiville  are,  per- 
haps, the  most  original  of  the  whole  set.  They 
are  less  skilful  in  handling  than  some  of  the  others 
which  are  given,  but  they  show  a  plain  intention 
to  depart  from  the  beaten  track,  and  a  deliberate 
effort    after    freedom  in   arrangement.      They   are 


German  Book-plates 


hopeful  as  signs  of  the  growth  of  greater  pictorial 
feeling,  and  suggest  possibilities  which  are  not  so 
apparent  in  the  work  of  those  artists  whose  study 
of  early  authorities  has  imposed  plain  limitations 
upon  their  range  of  invention. 

As  time  goes  on  results  more  obviously  indi- 
vidual may  be  expected  from  America.  The 
worship  of  unsuitable  archaisms  will  be  aban- 
doned, and  for  the  purely  artificial  respect  for  the 
traditions  of  European  communities  will  be  substi- 
tuted a  fresher  and  more  intelligent  sense  of  the 
obligations  which  are  involved  in  this  class  of 
design.     The  inventiveness  of  the  nation  will  assert 


BY   H.^NS  THOMA 


itself,  and  a  style  probably  quite  unlike  that  which 
is  characteristic  of  European  work  will  be  de- 
veloped. At  present  American  book-plates  are 
nothing  more  than  hints  of  what  is  ultimately  to 
be  expected  ;  they  show  the  manner  in  which  the 
native  designers  are  feeling  their  way  towards  de- 
cisive expression  of  an  unfettered  independence, 
and  they  mark  in  the  progress  of  the  art  a  stage 
which  is  nearly  complete  ;  we  shall  see  their  ten- 
tative qualities  before  long  giving  place  to  really 
genuine  originality.  What  will  be  evolved  it  is 
scarcely  possible  at  present  even  to  suggest,  so 
many  directions  are  open  to  the  designers,  and  such 
chances  of  breaking  new  ground  are  within  their 
reach;  but,  at  all  events,  reasoning  by  the  analogy 
of  other  art  movements  in  America,  we  may  antici- 
pate the  creation  of  a  school  which  will  treat  in  its 
own  way  the  problems  that  present  themselves. 

Je.\x  C.\rr^. 


GERMAN  BOOK-PLATES, 
BY  HANS  W.  SINGER. 
In  his  book  on  German  book- 
plates, F.  Warnecke,  after  reviewing 
the  history  of  the  art  from  the  fifteenth  to  the 
eighteenth  century,  says  :  "  The  worst  book-plates 
that  have  ever  been  produced  .  .  .  are  those 
of  the  first  half  of  our  century."  This  criticism 
might  be  applied  on  a  broader  basis,  for  it  holds 
good  for  other  art  products  besides  book-plates. 
It  seems,  however,  rather  too  early  to  date  a 
revival  of  ex  libris  art  from  the  fifties,  and  Count 
Leiningen-Westerburg,  in  submitting  a  chronolo- 
gical system  for  the  arrangement  of  a  collection  of 
German  book-plates,  cuts  our  century  into  two  un- 
equal halves,  maintaining  that  the  designs  produced 
after  1870  differ  widely  from  those  done  before. 

Yet  even  this  seems  an  early  date  to  assign  to 
the  b'rth  of  the  modern  book-plate.  No  doubt 
there  was  a  sort  of  revival,  a  decided  improvement 
upon  previous  work  perceptible  at  both  these 
periods,  especially  the  latter.  People  had  at  least 
discovered  what  a  book-plate  was  meant  for,  and 
fell  back  upon  the  oldest  specimens,  the  kind  that 
some  to  this  day — perhaps  with  justice — deem  the 
only  correct  form  of  the  book-plate,  the  armorial 


*-5CAFt'^* 


BY  CARL   WOLBRAND 


63 


German  Book-plates 


one.    The  early  work  of  Hupp  of  Munich, 
of  I)ocpler  and   Hildel)randt  of  I'lL-rHn, 
appeared  then,  and  armorial  book-plates 
were  correctly  drawn  from   an  heraldic 
])oint  of  view  by  these  artists  for  nearly 
the  first  time  during  the  present  century. 
At   that  time  these  men  belonged  to 
the    class    of   "  decorators,"  a    class    of 
designers  distinct   from    the    artist 
fraternity.      They    had    their    own 
schools    of    training,   usually    con- 
nected with  some  museum  of  applied 
art.    They  were  not  educated  to  the 
free  use  of  the  brush  or  the  pencil, 
and  they  were  not  brought  up  to 
the  vocation  of  painting  a  picture. 
Their    instruction    was    limited    to 
the  copying  of  certain  antique  ex- 
amj)les,  and  to  accjuiring  a  know- 
ledge of  certain  principles  whicli   might 
enable  them  to  produce  works  of  applied 
art.     These   "  Kunstgewerbler,"  or   art- 
workers,   were  at  that  period  considered 
to  be  of  a  lower  caste  than  the  artists. 
Artists    looked   down    upon   them,    and 
they  were   not  very  wrong  in  doing  so, 
for   the  aforementioned  knowledge  pos- 


BY   SATTI.ER 


F 


X-S 


BY   OTTO  GREINKR 


64 


sessed  by  these  art-workers  consisted  for  the 
most  part  of  a  rather  hazy  acquaintance  with  a 
subject  not  any  too  good  in  itself.  They  were 
supposed  to  have  the  forms  of  German  Renais- 
sance decoration  at  their  fingers'  ends,  and  their 
imagination  was  crammed  with  those  restive 
designs  of  interlacing  bands,  flying  banners, 
fluted  columns,  heavy  volutes,  and  all  that 
many-cornered,  intricate  "  little  "  ornamentation 
which  we  see  in  the  furniture,  on  the  title- 
pages,  on  the  "  Cartouche  "  prints,  and  even 
on  facades,  towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  This  system  of  decoration,  trans- 
planted from  its  natural  surroundings  into  the 
middle  of  our  century,  had  not  much  to  recom- 
mend it.  Yet  for  these  art-workers  there  existed 
only  this  one  style  :  "  Alt-Deutsch  " — antique 
( "icrman — was  the  thing  ;  houses  and  rooms  and 
furniture  and  book-plates  must  needs  be  deco- 
rated in  this  fashion.  This  continued  far 
beyond  1870,  beyond  1880,  indeed  I  think  even 
beyond  1890,  and  to  my  mind  the  appearance 
in  Germany  of  the  modern  book-plate  is  even 
more  recent  than  this. 

In  May  189 1  the  German  Ex  Libris  Society 
was  founded.  In  October  of  the  same  year 
they  began  the  publication  of  an  excellent 
quarterly  which  is  still  thriving,  and  no  doubt 
the   society,   especially   the    members  whom  I 


THREE   BOOK-PLA1 
BY   P.  VOIGT 


n 


CfCnnan  i^oos:-p: 


and  armorial  boo: 


and  they 

the    VOCatiui!   11     |.a:iMiiijj     ,i 

I'll,  ir    instruction    was    lini! 


tor  the  atorement. 


rr.nsistcd  for  th- 


'e3TAJ4-:>iooa  asifHT 

TOIOV    -1    YE 


nianycornered,  intricate  "  litde  "  ornamentation 

which  we  see   in   *'       '' '■  '      '~    the  title 

paL't'..    on   the    "  wA  evei; 


into  th' 


Libris  ?0'     ■ 
of  the  s 

,  :    of   an    , 

still  thri^ng,  and-  no  doubt 
lilt;  bOLiciy,  especially  the    members  whom  I 


64 


EX  •  LTBRTS 


PA V  L  ■  V  O  I  G  T 


h\^. 


German  Book-plates 


have  already  mentioned — Warnecke,  Leiningen- 
AVesterburg,  Doepler,  and  Hildebrandt — have  done 
much  for  the  furthering  of  the  book-plate. 

The  modern  ex  libris  dates  here  as  in  other 
countries  from  the  moment  that  the  modern  art- 
worker  appeared,  the  art-worker  of  to-day,  who  is 
no  longer  a  man  of  professedly  inferior  training, 
but  no  less  a  person  than  the  artist  himself,  step- 
ping aside  for  the  time  being  from  other  pursuits 
in  order  to  design  artistic  forms  for  articles  of  daily 
use. 

As  for  the  book-plate  itself,  two  things  had  to  be 
done  as  a  commencement.  It  was  necessary  to 
show  that  other  than  heraldic  designs  could  be 
used  :  Sattler  did  that.  A  new  style  of  design 
must  replace  the  clumsy  Renaissance  decoration  : 
O.  Eckmann  perhaps  did  that,  if  it  be  attributable 
to  any  single  man.  The  increasing  acquaintance 
with  the  work  of  Anning  Bell  and  other  English 
draughtsmen  also  helped  a  good  deal. 

Probably  most  readers  of  The  Studio  who  are 
interested  in  «.v  libris  to  any  great  e.xtent  are 
acquainted  with  the  forty-two  designs  by  Joseph 
Sattler,  published  in  1895  at  Berlin.  None  of  them 
are  purely  heraldic  in  the  old  fashion.     Some  of 


BY   S.\TrLER 


BY  S.VITLER 


them  are  very  grotesque ;  a  good  many 
show  no  connection  whatever  between 
the  design  and  its  use  as  a  book-plate. 
They  are  very  varied  in  character, 
some  reminding  one  of  Dutch  etchings 
of  the  seventeenth  centur)-,  while  the 
majority  were  made  in  a  sort  of  emula- 
tion of  Diirer.  Sattler  himself  was 
anxious  lest  one  should  say  "  imita- 
tion "  of  Diirer.  He  does  not  wish  to 
be  considered  a  coppst.  Upon  one 
plate,  that  of  Gabriel  von  Terey,  he 
was  asked  to  reproduce  a  sketch  by 
Baldung  (Terey  published  the  Baldung 
drawings),  and  he  is  particularly  anxious 
that  attention  should  be  called  to  the 
fact  that  he  has  added  Baldung's 
monogram.  Unfortunately  many  of 
the  designs  are  rather  heavy,  and  most 
of  them  appear  to  suggest  a  hidden, 
significant  meaning.  A  plain  design  is 
less  pretentious  and  more  pleasing  in 
the  end.  It  seems  to  me  that  of  the 
forty-two  the  simple  black-and-white 
specimens  are  the  best :  they  show 
greater  decorative  power.  The  coloured 
designs  were  not  lithographed  by  Sattler 
himself,  which  is  also  to  be  deplored. 
This  series  excited  much  attention  and 
may  have   been    the    cause    of   others 

65 


GcniKiii   Booh-plafcs 


trying  their  abilities  in  this  direction.  Ui)on  the 
whole  the  number  of  true  artists  who  have  turned 
their  attention  to  tx  libris  is  not  large,  and  they 
have  not  produced  much,  probably  not  half  as 
much  as  has  been  done  in  the  same  period  in 
England,  that  Eldorado  of  ex  libris. 

Specimens  of  the  iiest  artists'  work  accom- 
pany this  article,  although  it  has  been  impos- 
sible to  do  full  and  complete  justice  to  the 
various  designers.  Most  of  the  present  speci- 
mens, however,  will  speak  for  themselves  fairly 
well,  and  there  is  need  only  of  a  few  words 
about  the  designers. 

Some  of  the  recent  work  ot  Doepler  and 
Hildebrandt  proves  that  they  have  kept  in  step 
with  the  times.  Each  of  them  has  designed 
more  than  a  hundred  good  original  plates. 
Wolbrand  is  an  architect  of  Hamburg  who  has 
gained  some  reputation  as  an  illustrator  of  comic 
local  pamphlets.  The  specimens,  as  well  as 
those  of  (iradl  of  Munich  and  some  others,  were 


rvss    Avr  s   VLbTL 
Ava'    Avr's  [LC5TC 


BY    .MAX    KLINOER 


BY    M.\X    KI.IMIER 


secured  with  the  kind  assistance  of  Count 
Leiningen-Westerburg.  Paul  Voigt  is 
director  of  one  of  the  departments  at  the 
(lovernnient  printing-offices  at  Berlin, 
where  the  German  banknotes  are  made. 
Most  of  his  plates  are  intaglio  work  on 
copper,  usually  engraved  by  himself. 
Merger's  designs  are  very  novel  and  inte- 
resting. They  are  not  wood-blocks  or 
lithographs,  as  one  might  be  led  to  sup- 
])ose  at  first  sight,  but  are  stencilled,  a 
separate  pattern  being  cut  for  each  colour. 
15erger  lives  at  Munich,  as  does  also 
I'ankok,  whose  fine  wood-block  colour 
jjrints  cannot  fail  to  prove  interesting.  In 
his  book-plates  Thoma  scarcely  appears 
to  great  advantage ;  they  are  only  rapid 
and  slight  sketches  to  which  he  has  not 
devoted  much  time  or  thought.  Still 
they  are  interesting.  Of  all  the  designers 
Hirtzel  approaches  perhaps  nearest  to  the 
elegance  and  grace  of  the  modern  English 
ex  libris  ;  but,  as  a  rule,  German  tendencies 
do  not  incline  that  way,  and  perhaps  the 
most  specifically  German  attempts  are 
those  in  which  the  drawing  is  of  secondary 
importance  to  the  colour  scheme. 

Klinger  has  engraved  ten  plates  in  all, 
two  for  Liepmansohn,  one  for  his  brother, 
a  professor  of  chemistry,  two  for  the  art 
dealer  Gurlitt,  one  for  the  musical  library 
of  Peters  at  Leipsic,  with  the  head  of 
Beethoven,  and  one  for  Mr.  Bode,  Director 
of    the    Museum    at   Berlin,    two  for  his 


66 


PETFRANCKEN 


BY  PANKOK 


Austrian  Book-plates 


own  books,  and  one  for  Reinhold  Richter, 
which  was  done  quite  recently.  Greiner 
has  engraved  one  for  Hartung,  and  litho- 
graphed two  superb  plates  for  Weigand  of 
Munich  in  gold  and  colours. 

In  conclusion  I  will  name  a  few  other 
designers  whose  work  in  this  direction  is 
worthy  of  consideration.  Karl  Rickelt 
has  designed  several  excellent  armorial 
book-plates,  including  one  for  I.ipperheide. 
Peter  Halm,  the  Munich  etcher.has,  among 
others,  done  a  few  pleasing  examples  for 
F.  Schneider  at  Mentz  ;  Gustav  Hogelorp 
is  responsible  for  a  fine  tx  libris  for  Count 
Drach  (with  two  dragons),  another  for  A. 
Herzog,  an  heraldic  design  surrounded  by 
a  border  of  oak-leaves,  and  an  especially 
good  design  for  von  Schlieben,  represent- 
ing a  battered  burial  slab,  such  as  are  to 
be  found  on  the  walls  of  old  churches.  The 
ex  libris  for  F.  Hausslin  by  O.  Schwindraz- 
heim,  represents  a  house  cleverly  con- 
structed of  old  books,  and  upon  one  for 
B.  SchafTheim  we  see  a  boy  in  the  costume 
of  the  sixteenth  century  buying  his  first 
book  from  a  booth  at  a  fair.  The  in- 
scription, printed  in  old  type,  unfortu- 
nately includes  the  date  of  the  incident, 
1852,  which  seems  out  of  keeping  with 
the  design  and  mars  an  otherwise  pleasing 
plate.  Hans  W.  Singer. 


s 


BY   JULIUS   SVENSSON 

OME  AUSTRIAN  BOOK- 
PLATES. BY  WILHELM 
SCFIOLERMANN. 


BY  SATTI.ER 


<5$ 


"he  history  of  book-plates  in 
Austria,  from  the  earliest  times  down 
to  the  present  century,  though  corresponding, 
of  course,  in  regard  to  its  genesis  and  chrono- 
logical development  with  that  of  other  countries, 
is  an  interesting  subject  that  has  never  yet  been 
authoritatively  dealt  with.  There  does  not  exist, 
to  my  knowledge,  any  trustworthy  guide,  cata- 
logue, or  other  kind  of  publication  devoted  to 
this  special  topic,  either  from  an  artistic  or  from 
a  bibliographical  point  of  view,  to  which  the 
amateur,  bibliophile  or  antiquary,  might  turn 
for  enlightenment  in  treating  upon  Austrian  ex 
libris.  Even  the  well-known  German  authority, 
\Varnecke,  does  not  deal  exhaustively  with 
Austrian  ex  libris  either  from  an  artistic  or  from 
a  chronological  point  of  view. 

Austria  has  been  from  time  immemorial  a 
country  par  excellence  of  feudal  aristocrats  and 
monasteries,  a  land  of  monks  and  barons.  As 
far  back  as  a.d.  1312,  there  existed  an  illus- 
trated and  illuminated  "  Passionary "  (now 
preserved  in  the  library  of  the  University  of 
Prague),  on  the  first  page  of  which  the  names 


BOOK-PLATE  BY 
OTTO  GREIXER 


Austrian  Book-plates 

own  bnoVs,  and  one  for  Rpinhold  Richtcr, 


;  1  plates  lor  Wcigand  ot 
..lu.nw.  i..  ;.  :  .  .  i.J  colours. 

In  conclusion  I  will  name  a  few  other 


Peter  Halm,  f 

,  etcher,  1 

otho-    '   ■■ 

Hcrzoi,'.  an  i 

a  hurder  of   i 

good  design  for  \ 

inc 

l)C  ! 

fX  Hbtis 

luim,     r   _ 

sln:(  ted  of  old    1 

upon  0 . 

H.  Schaffheim  we 

.11 .  . 

,-,  .1.... .-,-,.  ■ 

of  the  sixteenth 

cent 

Ith   al   ;.. 

l.-.!f.           1  1   ■ 

in    old 

tVpOT'll'l^ 

natcly  y. 

i:  date  ' 

.Sr V     w   

11  IS  out   0 

_  .   _  .          _ 

^n  and  mars  an  oth 

erwise  pleasing 

n,\N- 

\\    Singer. 

s 


RIAN    BOOK- 
\\\    WILHELM 
RMANN. 


Ya  3TAJ4-5IOOa 
H3VII3H0  OTTO 

68 


The     historj'    of    Ixwk-plates    in 

Au.stria,  from  the  fjarliest  times  down 

to  the  present  century,  though  corresponding, 

of  course,  in  re<;ard  to  its  genesis  and  chrono- 

l(v'     '  '      '  -.1  .,    ,    -    .'  untries, 

is  t  iK-en 

a;.  '-t, 

t.,  .la- 

li  ted  to 

tl  r  from 

a  .<-h  the 

,1  rn 

1,  '.V 

iibns.     Ev 

Warnei-1>'  li'i 

Austri  rfrom 

_      ..1    _ 

.0  immemorial  a. 
'  Lts  and  _ 
ni'  '     iS.     As 

far   I).'  .2,  there  existed  an  iltus- 

trii.  '  ,ted    "Passionary"    (now 

I"  rary'of  the  University  of 

i'mguL'^,  on  ti'c  nrst  page  of  which  the  names 


Austrian  Book-plates 


and  "  likenesses  "  of  the  learned  scribe  as  well  as  of 
the  pious  owner  of  the  book  (the  Abbess  Kuni- 
gunde,  daughter  of  King  Ottokar  II.  of  Bohemia) 
are  imprinted.  In  the  various  monasterial  libraries 
the  ex  libris  monasleiii  appeared  about  the  same 
time  as  in  the  neighbouring  German  ecclesiastic 
centres  "  of  learning  and  peaceful  seclusion." 
Previous  to  the  year  15 19,  the  first  ex  libris  proper 
now  in  existence  was  that  of  Aldobrandini,  and  the 
oldest  dated  book-plate  in  the  town  of  Vienna  is  that 
of  Johannes  Faber,  Bischoff  von  W'ien,  in  the  year 
1 540.  Among  the  names  of  Austrian  book-plate 
designers  and  engravers  that  have  been  handed 
down  to  posterity  in  the  course  of  centuries,  I 
can  only  repeat  a  few  of  the  most  conspicuous, 
such  as  Dietl,  Yunker,  Kenckel  Konperz,  Nicolai, 
C.  Dietell  (of  Graz),  Alois  Count  Rosea,  Fr.  Mayer, 
Fr.  Schauer  (the  engraver),  and  five  anonymous 
ex  libris  of  rare  quality  and  interest  in  the  library 
of  the  "  Nicolspurgensis  Scholarum  Piarum." 
The  "  Gumpoldskirchener  Bibliothek  "  also  con- 
tains some  very  choice  specimens  of  old  book- 
plates of  various  dates  and  sizes. 

There  has  quite  recently  been  an  exhibition  of 
book-plates,  together  with  book-covers  and  old 
manuscripts,  in  the  town  of  Briinn  in  Moravia,  the 
first  one  of  this  kind  held  in  Austria.  Here  some 
thirty  to  forty  old  ex  libris  were  shown,  mostly 
from  designs  of  the  above-mentioned  artists,  the 
chapter-house  of  Kremsmlinster  in  Moravia  con- 
tributing some  of  the  finest  specimens  from  its 
rare  collection. 


HV    I'AUI.    VOIl'.T 


BY    r.\UL   VOIGT 


There  are  practically  only  three  living  Austrian 
book-plate  designers,  of  whom  two  reside  in 
Vienna.  The  names  of  these  are  Ernst  Krahl,  a 
painter  and  heraldic  designer,  and  former  pupil  of 
Doepler,  jun.,  of  Berlin,  and  Hugo  Strohl  in  the 
same  profession.  Both  are  as  yet  leaning  more  or 
less  upon  the  safe  lines  of  tradition,  though,  no 
doubt,  their  designs  are  well  executed,  and  in 
this  respect  certainly  deserve  a  note  of  unbiassed 
appreciation. 

From  a  really  modern  point  of  view,  there 
seems  at  present  to  be  but  one  young  artist  in 
Austria  whose  work  can  compare  with  that  of  the 
best  foreign  ex  libris  designers.  This  is  Emil 
Orlik,  of  Prague. 

There  is  a  charming  freshness  combined  with  a 
rich  vein  of  phantasy  and  humour  in  Orlik's 
manner.  He  betrays  at  once  an  individuality 
brimming  over  with  inventive  faculty  and  a  de- 
termination to  break  away  from  the  fetters  of 
tradition.  His  style  is  both  original  and  con- 
vincing, completely  different  from  any  style  at 
present  prevailing  in  Germany  (such  as  that  of 
Joseph  Sattler  for  instance),  and  entirely  free  from 
all  and  every  kind  of  heraldic,  "  scholastic,"  or 
mediaeval  influence. 

Emil  Orlik  was  born  in  1S70  in  Prague,  or 
more  accurately  speaking  in  "  Alt  Prag,"  the 
most  ancient  quarter  of  the  quaint  old  capital  of 
Bohemia.  He  commenced  his  studies  in  ^[unich, 
and  was  for  about  a  year  and  a  half  a  disciple 
of  Professor  Lindenschmidt  at  the  Academy. 
There  seems,  however,  to  have  been  but  little 
afiinity  between  master  and  pupil,  and  it  is  impos- 

71 


BY   CARI.   WOl.HKANl) 
(See  German  Book-plales) 


Ppebutir^I^ambur^, 


ItY    11KRNIIARI>   WKNK; 
(See  German  Book-plates) 


BY    \.    MBBIHR 
(See  German  liook-flaUs) 


BY    BKRMIARI)    WENKJ 
(See  German  Book-plates) 


72 


Belgian  Book-plafcs 


sible  to  trace  any  marked  influence  upon  the 
character  and  development  of  OrHk's  art  from 
that  source.  The  artist  is  at  present  indulging 
a  transient  migratory  mood,  and  is  engaged 
upon  a  roaming  tour  of  study  through  England, 
Scotland,  Holland,  Belgium,  and  France. 

There  appears  to  be  no  need  for  the  critic 
to  enter  into  details  with  regard  to  the  various  ^.v 
libris  of  this  artist  which  are  reproduced  here- 
with. Each  design  bears  a  personal  stamp,  and 
displays  independence  and  even  daring  both  in 
its  conception  and  execution.  Whatever  may 
he  the  direction  which  Orlik's  artistic  develop- 
ment will  eventually  take,  it  seems  certain  that 
we  are  destined  to  hear  a  great  deal  more  of 
him  in  the  early  future,  and  his  career  will  be 
watched  with  interest  by  all  advocates  of  inde- 
pendence and  individuality  in  art. 

Had  it  been  intended  to  enter  into  an  e.\- 
haustive  treatise  on  Austrian  book-plates,  the 
basis  of  this  article  must  needs  have  been  con- 
siderably enlarged.  It  has  been  at  least  possible, 
however,  to  submit  and  consider  a  few  of  the 
best  examples  of  ex  libris  that  can  be  procured 
in  Austria,  where  the  modern  art  movement  is 
only  gaining  ground  very  slowly  and  gradually. 

In  conclusion  I  must  tender  my  heartiest 
thanks  to  Mr.  Karl  Koch,  and  to  Mr.  Arthur 


liV    E.    KRAIll. 


Tellinek,  to  whose  erudition  and  courtesy  I  am 
indebted  for  much  valuable  information  con- 
cerning ex  libris  literature  in  general,  and 
Austrian  book-plates  in  particular. 

WiLHELM    SCHOLERMANN. 


ELGIAN    BOOK-PLATES. 
BY   FERNAND  KHNOPFF. 


HV    E.    KR.\Hl. 


D 

I  ■  During  the  course  of  the  renais- 
m.  ^  sance,  or  the  popularising  of  the 
applied  arts  —  a  movement  which 
was  the  natural  outcome  of  English  e.xample, 
and  is  now  flourishing  everywhere — Belgium's 
share  in  the  work  was  an  ample  contribution 
of  pottery,  pewter,  and  posters.  Our  painters 
concentrated  their  energies  in  the  study  ot 
ceramics,  our  sculptors — and  not  the  least  con- 
sidered among  them — devoted  their  gifts  of 
modelling  and  composition  to  the  production 
of  works  in  pewter,  while  the  Belgian  poster 
school  (or  rather  schools)  achieved  a  great 
reputation  by  designing  several  of  the  recog- 
nised masterpieces  of  their  kind.  The  Belgian 
poster  occupies  a  prominent  place  in  the  special 
publications  devoted  to  this  branch  of  art ; 
indeed,  more  than  one  volume  has  been  entirely 
devoted  to  the  efforts  of  the  Belgian  poster- 
makers.      Nothing,   therefore,   would  be  easier 

73 


Belgian  Rook-piates 


than  to  write  a  complete  historical  study  of  the 
poster  in  Belgium.  But  when  we  come  to  the 
question  of  book-plates,  especially  those  of  to-day, 
it  is  quite  another  matter.  The  revival  of  the  tx 
libris  in  England  and  in  Germany,  whereby  several 
artists  have  obtained  a  wide  celebrity,  has  had  no 
counterpart  in  this  country.  Belgian  book-plates 
have  always  been  scarce,  and  those  that  exist,  more- 
over, are  but  little  known,  the  public  collections 
containing  none  of  them.  Private  collections  there 
are,  it  is  true — including  those  of  M.  Hipjiert,  M. 
Claessens  the  art  hinder.  Dr.  Van  den  Corput, 
Comtc  de  Ghellinck,  M.  Pol  de  Mont,  and  ("f)nite 
de  Limburg-Stirum — but  they  are  somewhat  diffi- 
cult of  access  and,  from  various  causes,  generally 
incomplete,  especially  so  far  as  the  most  recent 
productions  are  concerned. 

Some  of  our  national  artists  give  evidence  of 
real  talent  for  this  kind  of  work.  First  of  all 
comes  the  late  Fclicien  Rops,  the  astonishing 
draughtsman,  the  consummate  engraver,  with  a  wit 
as  keen  as  his  needle's  point,  who  was  better  cjuali- 
fied,  jierhaps,  than  any  one  alive  for  the  task.  But 
no  one  thought  of  going  to  him.  The  catalogue  of 
his  works,  so  ably  edited,  under  the  pseudonym  of 
Erastene  Ramiro,  by  the  Parisian  advocate,  M. 
Eugene  Rodrigues,  mentions  kitrines  (initials)  and 


^^tM\f-^RrLo, 


'^c> 


EZAVFAL 


BY   EMIL  ORLIK 

{See  Auslriaii  Book-plates) 


74 


BY    KMII.    ORl.IK 

(See  Aiislnan  Book-plates) 


"  marks,"  but  not  a  single  ex  libris.  But  while  the 
absence  of  the  typical  ^\'aIloon  master  from  the  list 
of  book-plate  designers  must  be  keenly  regretted, 
it  is  satisfactory  to  note  in  the  first  rank  the  names 
of  those  who  were  either  his  direct  disciples,  or 
who,  by  displaying  his  identical  racial  qualities,  may 
be  said  to  have  continued  the  work  he  himself  per- 
formed with  so  much  force  and  originality.  I  have 
often  had  pleasure  in  referring  in  The  Studio  to  the 
interesting  and  meritorious  group  of  Litge  artists, 
whose  essential  decorative  gifts  are  of  so  refined  and 
"intellectual"  a  character — if  so  I  may  term  it: 
I  refer  to  MM.  A.  Donnay,  A.  Rassenfosse,  and  E. 
Pierchmans,  the  creators  of  the  best  of  Belgian 
posters  and  also  of  our  best  «.v  libris,.  In  the  latter 
as  in  the  former  they  display,  without  any  parade 
of  virtuosity,  the  well-balanced  and  logical  style, 
allied  to  the  soundest  and  most  serious  craftsman- 
ship, which  is  their  distinguishing  characteristic. 
'Po  their  ranks  on  this  occasion  I  would  add  yet 
another  Liege  draughtsman,  M.  de  Witte — albeit 
his  manner  is  somewhat  different — who  has  de- 
signed a  book-plate  of  great  merit  for  M.  Terme. 

In  default  of  other  virtues,  the  book-plates  ot 
Brussels  may  boast  of  their  comparative  numerical 


Belgian  Book-plates 


superiority  and  their  diversity  of  style ; 
nevertheless  the  names  of  several  artists 
which  we  would  certainly  expect  to  see  are 
wanting  from  the  Hst,  notably  those  of 
MM.  Crespin,  H.  Vandevelde,  and  Han- 
notiau,  whose  absence  is  greatly  to  be 
deplored.  On  the  other  hand,  we  find 
several  amateurs  who,  wholly  or  in  part, 
have  executed  their  own  book-plates,  such 
as  the  Due  d'Ursel,  President  of  the 
Societe  des  Beaux-Arts  of  Brussels,  M. 
Hippert,  President  of  the  Societe  des 
Aquafortistes  Beiges,  and  Comte  Alberic 
du  Chatel,  who  has  engraved,  with  light 
and  delicate  touch,  a  charming  ex  Ubris  in 
the  eighteenth-century  style. 

Numerous  ex  Ubris  have  been  composed 
and  engraved  by  M.  J.  Schavye,  the  art 
binder,  who  in  point  of  fertility  holds  the 
"  record,"  as  the  sporting  phrase  goes,  for 
works  of  this  sort.  Certainly  he  has  oc- 
casionally been  obliged  by  his  patrons  to 
execute  heraldic  compositions  of  barbarous 
appearance  and  other  designs  of  decidedly 
commercial  aspect  ;  but  the  beautiful  plate 
he  designed  and  completed  for  M.  Mon- 
tefiore  shows   him    capable    of   producing 


BY    EMIL   ORl.IK 
{See  Austrian  Book-plata) 


1!V    KMII.   ORI.IK 
(Sec  Aiislrian  Book-plates) 


true  art  work  when  unfettered 
by  restrictions.  M.  Schavye  it 
was  who  composed  the  book- 
plates for  M.  de  Bonne,  M. 
Edm.  Picard  the  advocate,  M. 
J.  Van  Volxem,  Baron  Van  den 
Bergh,  and  M.  R.  Chalon,  the 
learned  and  laughter-loving  bib- 
liophile, whose  practical  jokes 
were  famous  in  their  time. 

M.  J.  Weckesser,  another  art 
binder,  has  also  done  some  in- 
teresting plates,  especially  note- 
worthy being  that  of  Count 
Leopold  de  Beauftbrt,  whose 
celebrated  library  contains  copies 
of  several  remarkable  works  on 
the  chase.  This  particular  book- 
plate has  several  times  been 
incorporated  into  the  scheme 
of  the  binding,  which  certain 
book-lovers  declare  to  be  its 
rational  place. 

Among    the    Brussels    artists 


Bclfriati  Book-piatcs 


BARKLAU''^ 
BRUXLLLLS 


^ 


BY    FKRNAMJ    KHNOl'KF 


EXUiSRJS 


who  have  designed  book-plates 

may  be  mentioned  A.  Lynen, 

most  thoroughgoing  of  Bruxcl- 

lois,  who  executed   a   work   of 

this  kind  for  M.  G.  Schoenfeld 

the  advocate;  G.  M.  Stevens, 

author  of  his  own    "  mark  "  ; 

H.    Meunier,  of  poster   fame, 

who  has  executed  cv  tibris  for 

Madame  H.  Meunier,  and  for 

MM.   Campion  and  G.  Fuss; 

G.  Lemmen,  most  "  modern  " 

of  book  illustrators,  his  plates 

being  intended  for  Comte  Harry 

von  Kessler    of    Berlin,    Herr 

Curt  von  Mutzenbecher  of  the 

same  city,  and    M.  J-    Meier- 

Graefe  of  Paris.      M.  A.  ^'er- 

haegen,    on    behalf   of   M.    J. 

Neve,  Director  des  Beaux- Arts, 

has  designed  a  plate  which  has  been  executed  in 

admirable  fashion  by  M.  Vermorcken  the  engraver. 

Finally  there  is  the  writer  himself,  several  of  whose 

ex  lihiis  were  reproduced  some  time  ago  in  The 

Studio,  and  who  has  since  composed  one  for  the 

library  of  the  Brussels  Bar. 

"  In  Antwerp,"  writes  M.  Ch.  Duniercy,  keenest 
of  art  amateurs,  advocate,  and  man  of  letters, 
'■  the  book-plate  nowadays  has  fallen  from  its 
former  high  estate.  So  far  as  I  am  aware  this  is 
an  exact  statement  of  how  things  stand.  I  know 
three  Antwerp  bibliophiles  who  possess  ex  libris. 
When  I  say  "  I  know,"  you  must  regard  this  as  a 
manner  of  speaking,  for  one  of  the  three  is  myself, 
whom  I  scarcely  know  at  all.  My  ex  /ihn's,  which, 
strictly  speaking,  is  a  '  character '  formed  of  two 
initials  and  innocent  of  device,  was  designed  and 
76 


engraved  on  the  wood  of  the  pear-tree  by  my 
friend  Max  Elskamj),  who  is  not  content  to  be 
simply  a  great  poet." 

M.  Fernand  Donnet,  Director  of  the  Royal 
Academy  of  Fine  Arts  in  Antwerp,  had  a  book- 
plate designed  for  himself  which  was  touched  up 
and  completed  by  F.  Pellens,  the  engraver,  a 
student  of  the  Institut  Superieur  des  Beaux-Arts. 
Lastly,  M.  Pol  de  Mont,  the  poet,  has  a  very 
beautiful  specimen,  invented  and  designed  by 
M.  Charles  Dondelet,  the  quaint  draughtsman 
of  Ghent,  whose  learned  talent  and  rich  archaic 
style  were  admirably  adapted  for  the  production  of 
this  work.  Other  Ghent  artists  have  also  designed 
book-plates,  in — comparatively — large  numbers. 

The  erudite  and  amiable  librarian  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Ghent,  M.  F.  ^'andcr  Haeghen,  writes  : 
"  Here  is  the  result  of  my  researches  with  respect 
to  ex  libris  in  this  library.  I  find  book-plates 
owned  by  MM.  Heremans,  Voituron,  and  Gantrelle, 
designed  and  engraved  by 
Armand  Heins ;  one  belong- 
ing to  M.  Massy,  designed  by 
Em.  Coemans  and  engraved  by 
N.  Heins ;  one,  the  property 
of  M.  J.  Roule/,  engraved  by 
\'.  Lemaire  from  a  little  sketch 
by  myself;  a  plate  of  my  own 
for  an  Erasmian  collection, 
engraved  by  N.  Heins  after  a 
drawing  by  J.  de  Keghel ;  two 
more,  belonging  to  me,  one 
designed  and  engraved  by  N. 
Heins,  the  other  engraved  by 
C.  Onghena  from  a  design  of 
my  own  ;  and  one  owned  by 
M.  Charles  Hulin  and  designed 
and    engraved    by    P.    Allaert. 


HV    DO.NNAV 


BY    A.    RASSENFOSSE 


Belgian  Book-plates 


In  addition  must  be  remembered  the  little  ex  libris 
of  the  University  library." 

This  collection  has  certainly  the  merit  of  variety, 
tor  side  by  side  with  examples  of  the  simplest 
style  of  illustration  we  find  portraits — somewhat 
photographic  portraits — of  book-lovers,  while  large- 
sized    plates   are   in  company   with    "  marks "    so 


BY   A.    RASSEN  FOSSE 


small  that  they  would  be  highly  esteemed  by  M. 
H.  Beraldi,  once  described  by  M.  Octave  Uzanne 
as  "  chief  of  the  New  School  of  Orthodox  Biblio- 
philes." 

M.  Beraldi,  in  a  note  attached  to  his  work 
entitled  "  Graveurs,"  is  very  severe  on  book-plates 
generally,  and  insists  that  they  shall  be  as  small 
and  as  simple  as  possible.  May  one  not  even 
contend  that  the  ex  libris,  however  small  it  be, 
placed  inside  a  volume,  is  calculated  to  destroy 
the  harmony  of  the  work,  and  that  a  "  mark  "  ot 
this  sort  should  properly  figure  on  the  outside  of 
the  book  and  form  part  of  the  ornamental  binding  ? 

Then  comes  this  question :  Can  an  orthodox 
book-lover  interfere  with  the  binding  of  his  book  ? 
And  this  :  Should  he  remove  from  a  \  olume  the 
ex  libris  already  attached  to  it  ?  The  last-named 
question  has  been  so  clearly  and  delicately  handled 
by  Mr.  H.  G.  Ashbee  that  I  am  constrained  to 
quote  his  opinion. 

"  But  what,"  he  asks,  "  shall  be  said  about  the 
removing    of  a    book-plate    from    the    volume    to 


which  it  belongs,  and  to  which  it  imparts  a  cha- 
racter, a  historic  and  personal  value  ? "  His 
answer  is  as  follows  :  "  For  my  own  part  I  do  not 
remove  the  book-plates  from  the  volumes  which  I 
place  on  my  shelves ;  I  like  to  leave  in  the  books 
I  use  any  plates  which  they  may  contain,  and  to 
contemplate  '  in  my  mind's  eye '  the  owner  or 
owners  through  whose  hands  they  may  have  passed ; 
nor  do  I  (as  is  sometimes  done)  paste  my  ex  libris 
over  the  one  already  there.  But  I  frankly  own 
that  I  do  not  hesitate  for  one  moment  to  abstract 
a  book-plate  from  a  worthless  or  an  odd  volume, 
or  even  to  take  any  plate  out  of  a  long  set,  and 
add  it  to  my  collection  of  ex  libris." 

A  book-plate  is  a  unique  thing,  unpretentious  in 
point  of  size,  and  of  definite  character;  something 
that  must  be  specially  commissioned,  and,  more- 
over, cannot  decently  exist  or  be  displayed  with- 
out justification — or,  in  other  words,  without  a 
library  of  books  for  it  to  be  placed  in.  For  it  is 
only  a  Victor  Hugo  who  can  be  allowed,  without 
exciting  ridicule,  to  own  a  superb  and  imposing  ex- 
libris,  while  possessing  a  library  consisting  of  little 


ISV    h.    i'1-.l.LENS 


more  than  fifty  volumes.  To  put  it  briefly,  a 
book-plate  does  not  "  represent,"  as  we  say  here, 
the  money  it  costs.  It  is  for  this  reason  espe- 
ciallv    that    the   return    to    fashion    of    the    book- 


Be/i^icni  Book-plates 


owner's  mark,  as  seen  in  England  and  in  Germany, 
seems  scarcely  j)ossil)le  in  Helgium.  Tlie  beauti- 
ful libraries   of  our  old    families   have   their  fixed 


ii*!*'**. 


L 


cjlibri 


c^^^.'^OSBCPC 


BY   A.    VKRIIAEIIKN 


H 


■k 


Von  wi  N 1  W/^xe'rI 


BY    DONNAV 


heraldic  book-plates  ;  and  more  often  than  not  the 
new  race  of  bibliophiles  has  been  satisfied  with 
copying  some  old  mark,  or  has  grown  accustomed 
to  defer  his  choice  from  day  to  day,  or  has  thought 
it  safer  to  entrust  the  matter  to  some  working 
engraver,  more  or  less  a  specialist,  sometimes  a 
foreigner,  who,  with  no  responsibility  on  his 
shoulders,  has  not  scrupled  to  fabricate  any  sort  ot 
work.  These  productions  are  sometimes  such  as 
almost  to  justify  a  certain  Conite  C,  of  Brussels, 
one  of  whose  numerous  eccentricities  was  that  he 
used  his  e.x  libris  alternately  to  denote  ownership 
in  his  books  and  in  his  hats  '. 
78 


A  word  on  the  question  ot  the 
origin  of  book-plates.  Mr.  William 
Bolton  has  given  his  opinion  on  this 
subject  with  great  clearness  in  an  early 
number  of  the  "  Journal  of  the  Ex 
Libris  Society." 

Says  the  writer :  "  It  is  a  fact  pain- 
fully apparent  to  nearly  every  one  who 
owns  a  library  that  there  are  in  the 
world  a  great  many  outwardly  respect- 
able people  who  have  but  very  lax 
ideas  of  morality  regarding  the  return 
of  borrowed  books,  and  who  quietly 
treat  as  their  own  property  any  volume 
which,  unluckily  for  its  rightful  owner, 
has  by  means  of  a  loan  fallen  into  their 
hands.  This  form  of  book  stealing  (for 
in  reality  it  is  nothing  short  of  that)  is 
no  modern  invention.  Our  ancestors, 
more  than  three  centuries  ago,  suffered 
from  these  characteristic  depredations 
as  keenly  as  we  do  to-day,  and  for  their 
own  protection,  very  soon  after  the 
introduction  of  printing,  seem  to  have 
adopted  a  jjlan,  which  has  survived 
until  the  present  time,  of  affixing  to 
every  volume  their  library  contained  an 
engraved  mark  of  proprietorship,  as  a  means  of 
insuring  the  return  of  the  book  so  labelled,  in  the 
event  of  its  being  lent,  lost,  or  stolen.  Such  a 
label  we  now,  somewhat  perhaps  inappropriately, 
call  a  '  book-plate.'  " 

To  conclude  in  patriotic  fashion  an  article  which, 
I  fear,  is  incomplete,  chiefly  by  reason  of  the  some- 
what involuntary  modesty  of  our  bibliophiles,  I 
would  beg  my  readers  to  believe  that,  while  the 
scarcity  of  book-plates  in  Belgium  is  remarkable,  it 
is  no  less  so  than  the  honesty  ®f  our  book 
borrowers.     So  mote  it  be  ! 

Fern.\nd  Khnopff. 


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